


To Change the Tides of Fortune

by HighlyOpinionatedNerd



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, a whole lot of that, also known as the Captain Robin AU, and Robin getting the character representation she deserves!, be on the lookout for travelling circuses, brotherly reunions, but nothing too intense I hope, descriptions of blood and a bit of death and stuff, glowing tattoos, spades shipping, warning-mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:22:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 61,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9794171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOpinionatedNerd/pseuds/HighlyOpinionatedNerd
Summary: AU where the Strawhats never met, which means that they never had any of their adventures and (more importantly) never defeated any of their adversaries. The world's balance of power is falling apart, and war is imminent. No one seems willing to make a move, which is why Nico Robin decides to take matters into her own hands by forming a crew of her own to take down the ones threatening the safety of the people.





	1. In Which Robin Decides to Save the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin, Sabo, and Koala discuss the terrible state of affairs in the Grand Line, and Robin proposes a solution that could either change the world or get herself killed painfully

Nico Robin was, above all else, a historian. She had been raised believing that her future lay in exploring the past, and even though she had been forced away from the path of a historian by circumstances beyond her control, she had never given up that identity.

If historians understand one thing, it is how to read the signs of the present. How to tell what might happen, based on what already has. Historians understand very well that they have almost no power to stop history from ever repeating itself over and over. 

Robin was a historian, and she was reading the signs. But she had also learned from her other lives. She had eaten the fruit of the devil and she had explored large stretches of the Grand Line. As an outcast, she had learned that people would believe nearly anything they were told, especially if it was what they wanted to hear. As a thief, she had learned that greed could sometimes be a more powerful motive even than fear. As a pirate, she had learned that truth was rarely strong enough to stand against power. As a revolutionary, she had learned to wield her own power, and to do so wisely.

So when things took a turn for the worse, Robin knew what was going to happen. A madman with all the powers of the skies had descended to Earth and demanded recognition as a god. The Seven Warlords of the Sea had turned their backs on the world government, and were ruthlessly tightening their grips on their territories. Tensions were running high between the Four Emperors and the World Nobles. War was brewing. 

Things hadn’t looked this bleak since before the Lost Century. Every side was locked at a standstill, knowing that conflict was all but inevitable, but not wanting to be the one that started it. The fear that a new war might tear the world apart lay like a dark cloud over everything and everyone, growing stronger by the day.

 

“I don’t want any part of it,” Sabo muttered. He, Koala, and Robin were in the revolutionaries’ small galley, preparing a stew for dinner. Sabo was standing at the counter, angrily chopping up vegetables.

“Well, it just makes sense, Sabo,” Koala said from where she sat peeling potatoes at the rectangular table along the opposite wall. “Our aim is to take down the nobility, and by extension the government that serves them. Isn’t it? If there are pirates that want that too, then I say it only makes sense that we ally ourselves with them.”

Sabo snorted. “We may be the enemies of the government, but last time I checked we weren’t pirates. Pirates are selfish and barbaric, Koala, and we’re better than they are.”

“Not all of them are that bad,” Robin said absentmindedly. She stood near the stove, keeping a careful eye on a pan of sizzling meat.

“How could you think that, Robin?” Sabo demanded. “After everything you’ve been through, you seriously still defend them?”

She looked up at him and shook her head slightly. “I said not all of them. Some of them are bad, yes, terrible even, but some of them are just adventurers who get a little rowdy at parties but never raid settlements or anything like that. In fact, the good ones aren’t really all that different from us.”

She removed the now thoroughly cooked meat from the heat of the stove and set about cutting it into bite-sized chunks. For a moment there was silence in the galley but for the sounds of knives against cutting boards and potato peelings falling into a basket on the floor at Koala’s feet.

Sabo was glowering at his vegetables. His frustration with the current situation was not a unique case within the revolutionary crew; they grew more restless and uneasy with each passing day.

“People are scared,” he said quietly. “The reason we do what we do is to fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves, and all we’ve been doing lately is sitting here doing nothing.”

Koala sighed. “What can we do? We don’t have the strength yet to take the Marines head on, and if we make enemies of the pirates too we’ll be done for.”

Robin bit her lip. “Actually,” she spoke up tentatively, “I’ve been thinking about that. There are too many sides to this. What we need is to focus on the problems one at a time. Eliminate the threats one by one.”

Koala frowned. “That doesn’t seem viable though, Robin. The moment one group makes a move, the others are all going to move too.”

“Plus Dragon would never agree to let us do that,” Sabo added.

“I thought that too,” Robin said. “What if…. What if there was another group? A small group, independent of the others, but strong enough to put up a fight by themselves. They could do so much more than any of the other sides could.”

Sabo shook his head. “That’s impossible. There isn’t anyone powerful enough to stand up to even one of those threats you were talking about.”

“We could create a new group. Recruit strong individuals to join the cause.”

“Nobody is going to put their lives and the safety of the whole world in danger just because you tell them they to, though.”

She shrugged. “So we offer them a reward. A position of power or something. Everyone has a price, Sabo.”

He narrowed his eyes. “How would you find these people? How would you know who to get to have the best chance at winning?”

“Networking. Research. It can be done,” she insisted. “I had intended to talk to Dragon about it, and if he approves, then I am going to at least give it my best shot.”

Sabo stood speechless, jaw slightly agape. “But… I mean…” he floundered.

Koala smiled as she stirred together the ingredients of their stew in a large black pot. “I think what Sabo is trying to say is, that that might actually work, Robin. Provided you can do all that, it might just work.”

 

The revolutionaries kept several secret bases scattered throughout the Grand Line, some hidden in plain sight in the middle of busy cities, some far away from civilization out in the deserts or swamps, some buried underground or concealed behind waterfalls. Every one had a permanent staff responsible for keeping the buildings clean, in working order, and well-stocked in case one of the field crews had need of a place to lie low and resupply. Hardly anyone knew the location of them all, not even those who sailed with Dragon himself. 

Their headquarters was located on a tropical jungle island named Nelia. There were some small villages around the island’s coast, but the inhabitants never ventured far into the jungle for fear of the carnivorous beasts and plants that dwelled there. The Nelia base wasn’t actually a single building, but rather an elaborately connected series of treehouses and open-air platforms set high above the ground. There were ladder rungs carved into some of the supporting trees, though unless you knew they were there you’d never notice them. 

Every revolutionary knew the location of Nelia. In fact most of them had grown up there, having been taken in by the Revolutionary Army as children. Once they were old enough and well-trained enough to leave the base and join the fight, they were given a piece of virve card that would always lead them back if they lost their way.

Dragon’s crew landed at Nelia a few days after Robin had first voiced her idea to Sabo and Koala in the galley. She had expressed her plan to Dragon shortly thereafter; he had retained his usual stoic expression but didn’t seem to share Sabo’s initial doubts. ‘I can’t stop you from trying anyway,’ was all he’d said. 

The returning crew was greeted upon reaching the tree-levels by a swarm of kids that came streaming out of the woodworks to welcome them back. Both Sabo and Koala had been raised on Nelia. For Sabo, who had been found gravely injured and without memories of his previous life, it was the only home he’d ever known. 

They didn’t spend long relaxing, however. After dropping off their things, Robin led Sabo and Koala straight to the revolutionaries’ library. While not quite as extensive as the libraries Robin had grown up frequenting, it was fairly impressive in its own right. The three of them pulled years’ worth of newspapers, wanted posters, and mission reports by both the marines and the revolutionaries off the shelves and settled in to research.

It was agonizingly slow going. Koala and Sabo, who weren’t as familiar with this kind of thing as Robin, organized papers and files into stacks labeled with ‘useless,’ ‘maybe,’ and ‘to be considered.’ Robin spent her time carefully working her way through their ever-shortening list of possible candidates. She had a very specific idea of what she was looking for, and she wasn’t about to settle for anything less.  
Robin outright rejected some of the possibilities with little outward explanation why. Promising leads turned out to be dead ends more often than not, the person in question having long since been arrested or killed. Some of their information was incomplete and some seemed downright untrustworthy. 

Sabo became increasingly frustrated with the whole thing as time wore on. “Argh, I can’t take much more of this!” he exclaimed into the silence on the morning of their third day. He angrily pushed a stack of old wanted posters away from him and stood up, almost causing an avalanche in a nearby pile. He cursed and held very still while the papers teetered dangerously.

“Why don’t you take a break, Sabo,” Koala said tiredly from behind a yellowing newspaper. The logo at the top of the front page identified it as having been printed in the East Blue.

Sabo left the library, muttering darkly about not having joined a rebellion just to do paperwork. Robin sighed and set aside the file she’d been reading. Another dead end. “Koala, you can take a break too if you need it. I don’t want to force you to help me.”

Koala stuck her head around the newspaper long enough to give Robin a weary smile. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot. “I’m fine. We’re already about two thirds through it anyway.” 

Robin smiled slightly and shook her head, reaching for the next file awaiting her attention. With a wave of her hand, she created an arm that seemed to sprout from the table in front of her. The arm picked up the discarded file and neatly placed it in the stack that held the other rejected papers. She was lucky to have such good friends to help her, she thought. Somehow she doubted that any of the candidates for her special team would be anything like her revolutionary comrades. 

Sabo reentered the room, carrying three steaming mugs of coffee. He set one down at his workstation, then handed one to Koala. “Here, this should wake you up some.” She took it with a word of thanks, and he moved over to where Robin was sitting. 

“One for you too, Robin. Do either of you want any milk or… or…”

Robin looked up at him as his voice trailed off. He was staring at a photograph on one of the papers in front of her, the coffee seemingly forgotten in his hand. Drops of perspiration started to bead on his forehead. “Sabo?” she asked concernedly. He didn’t even seem to hear her.

“Robin,” he said, never taking his eyes off the photograph, “who is that, that person?”

“He’s a pirate,” she responded. Koala had put down her newspaper and was also looking perturbed by Sabo’s strange behavior. They exchanged worried glances.

“I know him.” Sabo hastily set down the coffee he was holding and picked up the pirate’s wanted poster. Monkey D. “Mugiwara” Luffy, spelled the large letters below the photograph, Bounty 350,000,000 Beri. Tears started to spill from Sabo’s eyes and he had to place a hand on the table to keep himself from losing his balance.

“My god, Sabo, what’s the matter?” Koala asked, rushing over through the maze of papers and reaching out to steady him. 

“I remember,” he choked out through the tears now streaming down his face. “I remember, Koala, I know who I was!” He held wanted poster out to her. “This guy, he’s my brother. I have a brother… no, no, I have two!” He threw his head back and laughed. 

Robin stood and carefully but firmly maneuvered Sabo into her chair. “Mugiwara Luffy is your brother? He looks nothing like you, Sabo.”

“Actually, he kinda reminds me more of Dragon,” Koala commented, placing the poster back on Robin’s desk. 

Sabo took a few deep breaths and regained some of his composure. “We aren’t related by blood.” He smiled fondly. “Back then, when it was just the three of us, we thought that pirates were the coolest people ever. We thought that they could do anything.” I can’t believe Luffy actually did it.”

“Who was the other one,” Robin asked, gathering up all of Luffy’s papers, “your other brother? We might have information on him too.”

“Ace,” Sabo said, already digging eagerly through a different pile of papers. “He’s probably abandoned his last name by now. I can’t remember all of it yet, but I do remember that he really hated his dad.”

“Ah, I saw an Ace poster earlier.” Koala moved away towards her own workstation. She rummaged around a bit, and shortly returned with a different piece of paper. “This him?”

Sabo laughed aloud upon seeing the second photograph. “Yes! This is my other brother. ‘Fire Fist Ace, Whitebeard Pirates, Bounty 550,000,000 Beri.’ Goddamn, he certainly has done well for himself! I’ve got to go tell Dragon about this,” he said, bouncing up and practically sprinting back out of the library.  
Robin grinned and filed both Ace’s and Lufffy’s information in the pile of final candidates.

 

It took them an additional two days, but Robin finally closed the last folder on her desk. Their extensive research had left her with a final list of only eight people. Sabo insisted that there was no way such a small group of people stood any kind of chance, but Robin was adamant in her decision.

She didn’t pretend that their mission wouldn’t be exceedingly dangerous. But if she could get all of her primary choices in on it, she thought that they would have a very good chance. All things considered, she thought as she hefted a stack of papers, it might be a challenge just to get them to work together. But she was confident that it was possible.

She carried the stack over to the bookshelf they belonged on and set about placing them back in their proper places. A small nearby window showed that it was quite dark outside. She had lost track of what time it really was, but night set in quickly in the dense jungle. Sabo had gone out some time ago in search of some food and hadn’t returned since. Koala had fallen asleep at her desk with her head pillowed on her arms, surrounded by dozens of scattered papers. 

Robin stretched her arms behind her head and flexed the muscles in her legs, feeling them tingle uncomfortably after five days of sitting in the same place with only short breaks to sleep and eat. She briefly considered waking Koala and bringing her to bed, but decided to let her young companion have her well-deserved rest. 

She looked around at the disastrous mess that they had made of the library. She knew that she should set about organizing and cleaning it up now that they were done, but quickly decided that it could wait until the morning. There was one more thing she wanted to take care of first anyway, and it would be better if no one were to see her anyway. 

 

Making sure that no one else was awake and watching, Robin made her way towards one of the platforms that was walled and roofed against the elements. The inside was all one large room; this particular room was where the army kept track of the positions of all its field agents. The walls were covered in maps and charts, each one adorned with plenty of marks and colored pins. 

There was also a line of den den mushi set up along one wall which could be used to communicate with other revolutionary units no matter where they were. Robin sat down in front of one of them and picked up the receiver, placed her call. 

After over half a dozen rings, she was beginning to doubt that he would pick up. She asked herself why she had even expected that he would. But just before she gave up altogether and put the receiver back down, he answered.

“Well well, imagine my surprise,” spoke the den den mushi in a deep, lazy sounding voice. “A woman who is wanted by the government, who is portrayed as a dangerous threat to the safety of the people, thinks that she can ring up an admiral of the marines and have a normal conversation, does she?”

Robin smiled. “Hello Aokiji. I hope you have been well.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know how bad it is, Nico Robin,” Aokiji said. He sounded tired, even through the distant-sounding speaker. “We know that you’re with Monkey D. Dragon’s people nowadays. The bounty on your head is up to 100,000,000 Beri. You wouldn’t risk this unless it was important. Why are you really calling?”

“I’m going to do something about all this,” she replied, cutting straight to the point. “I’m going to leave the revolution and gather an independent team. We’re going to do something on our own.”

He was silent for a time. Then, “that sounds like total insanity. Why tell me, anyway?”

“I just wanted to make sure that you knew that Dragon isn’t involved. None of the blame for whatever happens is on him. And it’s not insanity, I have a plan.”

“Who are you planning this stunt with? You know what, nevermind, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.” He paused. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do. I really do, but...my higher-ups won’t like this, Robin.”

She sighed. “I know. Do what you must. I’m not asking for your help.”

An even longer pause. “I’m going to send you one of my men to keep an eye on you. He’s strong, maybe he can help you some. Good luck.”

“Thank you,” she said, and meant it, but he didn’t hear her. He had already hung up.

 

Nelia was beautiful by night. The patches of sky that were visible through the dense jungle canopy were crowded with stars, and the air was clean and crisp. Soft, indistinct noises made by the many night-walking animals of the jungle blended together in a constant stream of background noise. Robin found it soothing. 

Robin spent a while simply wandering between the many platforms that made up the revolutionaries’ home base with no real destination in mind. Her thoughts were far away, back in a time when the state of the world had been stable. Not good, never good when pirates could take the law into their own hands and do what they pleased throughout the Grand Line with little interference from the government. But it had been stable, and she had had a family of her own, and she had slept soundly through every night. If what she planned now worked even half as well as she hoped, it might be possible to return the world to the way it had been.

Well, some of it at least. Her island was gone forever, and she knew there was nothing she could ever do to bring it back.

She paused along a bridge between two platforms that overlooked a running creek far below on the jungle floor. For a moment she simply leaned on the railing and watched the water flowing slowly but steadily towards the sea. She wondered what might happen should she fail. She’d almost certainly die, and nothing would have changed. 

She watched as a single flower petal was borne down the creek, swept out of sight by the current. 

Robin knew that even though the odds were very much against her, she was going to try to change the future. Because no one else would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to make up almost all that information about the revolutionaries, because as of now not a lot is really known about their organization or even their numbers. I may go back in the future and change some of it, but in all honesty I probably won't. Next chapter we get to meet the rest of the crew!


	2. In Which an Important Meeting Takes Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin gathers all the members of the crew and asks them to join her on her mission. How will they respond? Also featuring the reunion between Sabo, Ace, and Luffy.

Robin sent News Coos to deliver messages to everyone on her list. She had purposely kept the details vague, but included directions to Nelia, instructing the recipients to show up in one of the larger villages in ten days time. Once they reached the village, the messages said, someone would approach them and guide them to the official meeting spot. 

The Coos returned one by one, and Robin set about making plans for the meeting. Ten days should be sufficient for even the furthest people to make their ways through the Line to Nelia, and meeting in a totally neutral location should be sufficient to forestall any serious altercations. At least, she hoped so. 

Koala agreed to help spot the candidates as they arrived in the village, and to bring them to Robin’s meeting location (she had chosen a suitable clearing in the jungle, far from the eyes and ears of both villagers and revolutionaries). She even convinced one of their revolutionary friends, a young man by the name of Kohza, to help her out without revealing too many details of their larger plan. Sabo elected to stay with Robin in order to keep an eye on those at the meeting. 

Sabo grew more and more anxious as the designated day approached. On the morning before the meeting, he was uncharacteristically already up by the time Robin and Koala entered the cafeteria for breakfast.

“G’morning,” Koala said sleepily, fighting down a yawn.

“Yeah, morning,” mumbled Sabo. Robin could clearly tell that he had already drunk a substantial amount of coffee.

She smiled as she slid onto a bench next to where he was sitting at one of the long wooden tables. “Are you that nervous to meet your brothers, Sabo?”

He glanced her way, then shook his head twitchily. “No, no, it’s just… Ok yeah I am kind of nervous. What if-”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Koala interrupted, patting his shoulder reassuringly as she passed on her way to grab some breakfast for Robin and herself.

“Mornin’ guys.” Robin and Sabo looked up to see Kohza approaching their table, already holding a plate of food. He was a tall, sun tanned man with sandy hair and a faint scar on the left side of his face. Like Robin, he had joined the revolutionaries as an adult after he and several of his comrades had been forced to leave their home island had fallen under the brutal control of one of the Seven Warlords. Robin didn’t know too much about what had happened, but she did know that Kohza hadn’t left willingly. His people had put up a hell of a fight first, but they simply hadn’t been able to hold their own for long against a Warlord’s substantial power.

“Good morning,” she greeted him as he sat down opposite her. Koala returned with food and also sat down. “I appreciate you helping out today, Kohza.”

He shrugged. “No problem. I don’t really know what you’re up to, Robin, but… I know you’re trying to help, and that’s what matters.”

She smiled at him. “Well, everyone eat up. I imagine that we’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”

 

The first one to arrive at Nelia was Fire Fist Ace. Sabo, who had been pacing the clearing ground anxiously since their arrival there after breakfast, made a strangled sounding noise when he noticed Koala approaching them with Ace trailing behind her. 

Robin laughed at Sabo, frozen in place with indecision. She grew a few hands from the ground at his feet and they pushed at his ankles, finally spurring him into motion. He stumbled forward to meet Ace, who had left Koala behind once the clearing properly came into sight and continued towards them alone. 

Sabo pulled off his trademark top hat as Ace drew nearer. “F-Fire Fist Ace,” he said shakily. 

“Hey,” said Ace, without any trace of awkwardness. “Were you the one who sent me that message?”

“Ah, not exactly,” Sabo replied quietly. He paused, looking intently at the confident young man in front of him. Ace had grown to be a little taller than him. “Do you… do you remember me?”

“Man, I’ve been hit in the head a lot of times,” Ace laughed. “You’ll have to refresh my memory.”

Sabo’s face fell. “We grew up together. We called ourselves brothers. But, I guess I was the only one who took it seriously after all…”

Ace’s grin shrank and finally disappeared altogether. He looked as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. After a moment he stepped closer and peered intently down at Sabo, taking in the ugly burn scar that covered half the left side of his face.

“Sabo?” He whispered, reaching out tentatively to touch his brother’s shoulder, as if to confirm he was really there.

Sabo smiled hesitantly. “It’s me, Ace. I’m so glad that you remem-”

He was cut off as Ace lunged forward and hugged him tightly. “Sabo, I can’t believe it’s really you! Oh my god, I don’t believe it.” He broke off the embrace abruptly and held Sabo at arms length, frowning at him. “You were dead, man. You were gone. How come you never told us?”

“I didn’t know… I mean, I didn’t remember. I must have been hurt worse than I originally thought.” Sabo looked like he was on the verge of tearing up again. “I’m sorry Ace. I forgot you and Luffy.”

Ace smiled again. “It’s ok, Sabo. You remember now, and that’s what matters.” They embraced again.

Robin watched the whole interaction from a discreet distance. She was relieved to see most of the tension leave Sabo’s posture when Ace smiled at him. Privately, she held that Fire Fist Ace’s smile was incredibly sweet; the smattering of freckles on his face made him seem childlike and innocent, even though she knew that wasn’t really the case. 

Kohza soon came into view leading the second person to arrive. From where she was, Robin could see that he wore the brimmed hat, long white coat and golden shoulder tassels of a marine captain. She assumed him to be the man Aokiji had assigned to her. 

The newcomer strode purposefully into the clearing, quickly taking in Ace and Sabo before turning towards Robin. As he approached Robin noticed that he was actually very young, perhaps even younger than Fire Fist Ace. 

He stopped in front of her and saluted. “Nico Robin, ma’am. I’m Captain Vinsmoke Sanji. Admiral Aokiji has ordered me to accompany you on your journey.” 

Robin blinked at the name Vinsmoke, which was vaguely familiar, but chose not to say anything about it. “Thank you for coming,” she said. “As you can see, we’re still waiting for some of our number to get here, but once everyone is here I will explain our goals in greater detail.” She smiled, trying to be friendly. “Until then you may relax. There’s really no need to salute.”

He nodded and lowered his arm. After a moment of deliberation, he reached up and removed his hat. His blond hair was slightly disheveled, presumably from having been kept under the hat for a while. Both his eyebrows had curious curls on their left ends. He moved away from her and sat leaned against a tree, surveying the clearing impassively. 

Robin shrugged inwardly. Well, she thought, it was enough that he would be accompanying her. She didn’t have the right to also demand him to be sociable. 

Mugiwara Luffy, the next to arrive, turned out to be a loud, childishly expressive boy. Robin could hear him long before he came into view, being led by an exasperated Koala. He was ecstatic to see Ace, whom he recognized immediately. It took a little longer to convince him that Sabo was truly who he said he was, but after realizing that his long-lost brother really was alive, Luffy burst into loud, messy sobs. He wrapped his rubbery, extendable arms around both his brothers and squeezed them tightly. Ace laughed and so did Sabo, all his earlier nervousness banished. 

Kohza and Koala continued to bring people to the clearing throughout the morning and early afternoon. A standoffish teen girl with a lip ring and the left half of her head shaved; a dark man with an absurdly long nose and tattoos of zebra stripes covering his forearms; a very oddly proportioned cyborg man with slicked blue hair who wore a sunglasses and a thick gold chain around his neck; an exceedingly tall man that appeared to be a literal walking skeleton. 

Around noon, Robin and the others heard the sounds of something approaching their clearing through the dense jungle foliage. Robin moved closer, anticipating some kind of animal that would need to be turned back, but was surprised when it instead turned out to be a muscular man with a head of bright green hair who was carrying no less than three swords scabbarded at his belt. For a moment, he looked just as surprised as she did to suddenly find himself face-to-face with an unexpected person. Then he cleared his throat, straightened his clothing, and walked the rest of the way into the clearing.

Robin was unsure whether he had purposely made his way through the jungle to find them, or if he had stumbled upon them by accident. From what she could tell, he didn’t seem to be sure either.

She surveyed the people gathered in the clearing as they waited for the arrival of the last invitee. The atmosphere was thick with tension, and the only ones who spoke were the three brothers. 

It dawned on her exactly how many of them were members of the so-called worst generation, which placed them between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. So young and yet already so strong; she hoped she could do right by them and help to create a world for them to live in where they would never need to steal or lie they way she had when she was their age. 

Finally, Kohza reappeared on the path that led to their clearing. Robin was surprised to see that he was accompanied not by a person, but rather by a small, brown-furred animal that walked on two legs and wore a pink hat. The animal was doing it’s best to remain out of sight behind Kohza’s legs. 

Kohza brought the little, antlered creature to Robin and gave her a long-suffering look. “He won’t tell me why he’s here, he only wants to talk to you.” 

“All right then. Thank you for your help, Kohza. You and Koala may return to base, we’ll be fine now.”

For a moment, he looked as if he wanted to ask more about her plans, but he held his tongue. “Ok. I hope it goes well, Robin.” 

Robin made a mental note to visit Kohza’s homeland at some point, and to see what could be done for him and his people, in exchange for what he had done for her. Then she turned her attention to the animal in front of her.

“Ah… my name is Tony Tony Chopper,” he stammered in a high-pitched voice. “Dr. Kureha sent me. To tell you that, um, she’s not coming.”

Robin frowned. “That’s a shame, we could have really used her help and her experience. But I understand. You may tell her that I bear her no hard feelings,” she told him.

“A-actually,” Chopper said nervously, “I was hoping you would take me with you in her place. I’m a doctor like she is, and I can fight…” he trailed off, trembling under her gaze. 

“Is that so? Well then,” she said gently, “you are welcome to come along, Dr. Chopper.” 

He gave her the faintest hint of a smile, which she returned warmly before moving to the center of the clearing. “If I may have your attention, please,” she said loudly, “I will explain why you are here.” All eyes immediately turned to her, and even the brothers instantly fell silent.

“About time,” said the young girl sharply. She had taken a seat on a tall tree stump and had been warily regarding the others the whole time, as if one of them might try to jump her. Now she narrowed her eyes at Robin and crossed her arms.

“I thought at first that this was a setup for a heist,” she said, “and that you needed a team to pull it off. Contacting us anonymously, having us come here, gathering pirates and thieves, all that makes sense. But bringing in marines and mercs? That’s not what’s going on here. You owe us an explanation.” 

The green haired man bristled a bit at what her words and pointedly rested a hand on the hilts of one of his swords. Sanji’s eyes flickered towards the girl, but he remained silent, waiting for Robin to speak. 

And so she did. She told them plainly and exactly what was on her mind, how she had done her research and selected those most likely to be able to take on the world’s most dangerous threats and win. She left no delusions about the dangers ahead, and simply asked them to join her of their own free will, and to work together regardless of their individual backgrounds.

After she finished, there was silence. Then, the huge cyborg man spoke up. “What’s in it for us if we do this? You can’t seriously expect us to throw our lives away just for the personal satisfaction.”

“What do you want?”

“Money,” answered the punk girl without hesitation.

“Lots of money,” agreed the green haired man, and the cyborg nodded. 

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” Robin said. “If we survive this, you’ll each be rich enough to buy your own island.”

The long-nosed man, who until then had shown no sign of interest in Robin’s offer, raised an eyebrow. “A whole island?”

“Yes, as long as you don’t look too closely at where that money comes from,” Robin replied, smiling faintly. “If we do this, we’ll be operating outside the law. We’ll be pirates.”

There was another moment of silence in the clearing. Then, “well, I won’t do it.”

Everyone turned towards Ace. His face had a very serious look on it, making him seem older than before. He shook his head at Robin. “I am loyal to Whitebeard, and no one else. I belong there with him,” he explained defensively.

Robin bowed her head. “If that is your decision, then I won’t stop you from leaving.”

Ace nodded gravely. Then he turned towards his brothers. “Luffy, I don’t think you should do it either. You should be with Shanks.”

Luffy shook his head. “No way. Shanks may be the one who brought me to the Grand Line, but he’s not the boss of me. I left his crew because I wanted an adventure, and here it is!” He grinned at Robin. “Count me in,” he said.

“Yohohoho,” laughed the skeleton man, “an adventure, huh? I like the sound of that. I do believe I’ll come along as well. It’s been a very long time since I’ve sailed as a pirate.”

“It’s fine if you can pay,” the burly swordsman said. 

“Now hold on a minute,” the blue haired cyborg said, “not all of us are pirates. Can you promise to protect our identities?” 

Robin shrugged slightly. “How do you think I found you? Information on every one of you is already out there, whether you like it or not. If you want your identity protected, you’ll have to do it yourself.”

He laughed. “Is that so? Alright, I give. I’ll come with you.”

The girl with the lip ring hesitated. She ran a hand through her vivid orange hair and sighed. “Ok, fine. I’ll do it. You’d better not make me regret this.”

Robin turned to look at the dark, tattooed man with the long nose, the only one who had yet to give her an answer. Barely a man, she thought, giving him a closer look. What right did she have to ask all these young people to risk their lives?

“Uh, sorry,” he said cautiously, “but I’m still trying to figure out exactly why I’m here. I’m not strong, and I’m not a pirate or anything like that…” He squared his shoulders. “But if you want me to come, then I will. I could really use the money, anyway.”

Robin smiled. “Then it’s settled. You will stay with here on Nelia until we are ready to set sail.” She looked at the cyborg. “Am I correct in thinking that you can help us make our ship seaworthy?”

He grinned and gave her a thumbs up. “Just leave it to me. We’ll be ready in no time.” 

“Well then, you may all follow me to the village and I will show you your lodgings for the next few days.”

She set off down the path out of the clearing, her new crewmates trailing behind her.

Sabo, Luffy, and Ace remained where they were. Ace put his arms around his brothers’ shoulders and pulled them in close. “I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see both of you together ever again,” he said quietly.

“Me neither,” said Luffy. “It was really great, even though it was short.” He looked at Sabo. “You aren’t coming with us, are you.” It was more statement than question.

Sabo shook his head. “I can’t. I’m with the revolutionary army now Luffy, and they need me there.” 

Ace chuckled. “Damn, how did we all manage to get so deep into it,” he asked jokingly.

They released their grips on each other and stood back. “Guess this is goodbye for now,” Sabo said. “You guys know where to find me now, if you ever need me.”

Ace nodded and Luffy said, “yeah, bro. We’ll see you soon.”

Sabo gave them one last heartfelt smile and turned away to head back into the jungle. 

“You know, I have a good feeling about all this,” Luffy said to Ace as they hurried to catch up with the others as they walked back towards the village, the sun steadily continuing its arc across the sky above them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you may realize that I've been avoiding using Japanese honorifics- they just get really hard to keep track of, and I don't really feel qualified to decide how my character changes affect how people talk and what suffixes they use for everyone. That is all. Next time we'll get a glimpse at the au versions of the crew's backstories!


	3. In Which Introductions are Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew sits down to dinner and each of them gives a short introduction. Robin asserts her authority as captain. Plans begin to take shape.

Robin led them in an unorganized cluster down to the little village’s harbor, where she pointed out the ship they’d be travelling in. It was a medium-sized boat, with two masts and a total of seven onboard canons. Actually it was one of the revolution’s old models that had been retired, but they didn’t need to know that.

The cyborg pulled a face when he saw the old ship, but assured her confidently that he would make all necessary modifications to make it sail like new.

“Great,” Robin said, “In that case, our inn is this way. It’s a bit early for dinner, but perhaps we could take this time to properly introduce ourselves. We’ll be spending quite some time together in the near future, after all.”

“Well, looks like that’s my cue,” Ace said, stepping forward from the back of the group. He extended a hand to Robin. “Sorry I wasn’t able to offer any help. Good luck out there.”

She shook his outstretched hand firmly. “And to you and your crew, Fire Fist Ace. Keep Whitebeard out of trouble, or we may be seeing you again sooner than expected.”

Ace laughed, once again seeming for all the world like a carefree child. He released her hand and turned back to look at Luffy. “Stay safe out there, bro. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, for sure!” Luffy said, grinning his ridiculously wide grin. He and the others watched as Ace walked over to where his small, streamlined craft was docked. Ace unfurled the sail and loosed the mooring ropes; there was a burst of bright flame, and then he was speeding away across the clear waters of Nelia’s harbor.

“So,” Luffy said, “are we getting food now or what?”

 

They checked into the rooms at the local inn that Robin had booked for them in advance, and then they entered the inn’s dining room and sat down at a large round table. There was a window near their table, and it bathed the whole room in warm, late afternoon sunlight. The only other patrons in the dining room were two elderly men sitting at the bar, drinking and discussing their work. 

A waitress came and took their orders, but once she left the uncomfortable silence returned. The young orange haired girl glared at everyone, the swordsman looked from one person to the next as though he were sizing them up for a potential fight, and Chopper avoided looking at anyone. 

Their food was delivered, a large and varied selection of dishes, and everyone began eating, yet still the silence persisted.

Robin sighed and decided to give up on waiting for them to speak first. “So, I imagine we’d all like to get to know a little more about each other,” she said. “Are there any questions that need addressing before we begin?”

“Uh, actually, I was wondering,” spoke up the dark skinned boy, “if we’re a pirate crew now, who’s our captain? Who do we take orders from?”

“Oooh, I call dibs on being captain!” said Luffy cheerfully, ripping into a hunk of meat with his teeth.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Robin told him. To the dark boy she said, “I am your captain, and you take your orders from me.”

“If I may say so,” the skeleton said, “we don’t know anything about you. Are you qualified to captain us?”

“My name is Nico Robin. I have something of a background in piracy, but I have been operating within the revolutionary army for quite some time. There is a bounty on my head of 100,000,000 Beri. The government considers me dangerous, not because of what I can do, but because of what I know. I am a historian and a strategist, and yes, I am quite capable of captaining you. Incidentally, I can also do this,” she added, and suddenly several extra arms extended up from her shoulders and waved at her new crewmates.

The dark boy made a strangled noise and jerked back. Luffy laughed and said, “awesome!”

“What could you possibly know that makes you worth that much?” asked the orange haired girl, eyeing the arms carefully as they receded from sight.

Robin paused, wondering how much to say. In the end she decided to tell them the truth. “I know how to read poneglyphs,” she answered, “which means that if I ever find the right one, I could unravel the secrets to some of the world’s deadliest weapons.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed that. Robin looked each of them in the face and said, “I’m trusting you with this. We should all be able to trust each other now. I hope that is clear to you.”

She turned to the green haired swordsman, who was sitting to her right, and gave him a smile. “Alright, your turn.” 

He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Go on. Tell everyone who you are and what you can do.”

He held still for a moment, reluctant to speak, then sighed and nodded slightly. He took a generous gulp of the sake in front of him before turning to address the others at the table.

“I’m Roronoa Zoro. I catch criminals and pirates for money. Mostly pirates. My style of fighting is called Santoryu Sword Style, and I’m good at it.”

“Never thought I’d see the day,” remarked the girl with the lip ring wryly, “that ‘Pirate Hunter Zoro’ would agree to sail under a pirate flag.” 

He shrugged irritably. “I’m not stupid, you know. Even I can see that with the way things are going, soon I won’t be able to continue working in the Grand Line. At least I live honestly,” he added, and she bristled like an angry cat. 

“And just what is that-”

“That’s enough,” Robin cut her off sharply. The old men at the bar were staring at them curiously. She met the younger girl’s gaze and held it. “You would do well to remember what I said about trust, and working together now,” she warned quietly. Finally the girl looked away with a huff. “Thank you, Zoro. Continue, please,” she said to Luffy, who was on Zoro’s other side.

“Oh, ok then.” He swallowed a huge mouthful of food. “My name is Monkey D. Luffy, bounty 350,000,000. I’ve been a pirate for a while now… first under Red Haired Shanks, but then I left and trained with a guy named Ryleigh Silver for a while, but I guess I’m done with that now too.” He shrugged. “Oh yeah, and I’m made of rubber. I can stretch myself pretty far, and I can’t be hurt with bullets or cannonballs or anything like that.”

Robin almost choked on a bite of her food upon hearing Luffy’s real name. She looked at him closely, seeing the messy black hair under the straw hat and the dark eyes shining with life as if it were the first time. She chuckled to herself, wondering how Dragon would react when Sabo told him that a boy named Luffy would be joining her crew.

The huge cyborg spoke next. “I’m Franky. There’s a 50,000,000 Beri price on my head. I run an underground crime ring based out of Water Seven,” he told them unabashedly. “I learned my way around a toolbox from the best, and I’m a pretty good mechanic and engineer if I do say so myself. No powers, just the enhancements I made myself.”

“I am Brook,” said the skeleton, who was next in the circle of chairs at the table. “Most recently I have travelled as a somewhat popular musician, but long ago I sailed the Grand Line with a crew called the Rumble Pirates. I’m sure our Captain Robin already knew that though,” he said, and she smiled, indicating that she did. “Back in those days I had a bounty of 33,000,000 Beri, I believe. However, as you can see, I have died once already, and I’m no longer sure it applies. Luckily I had eaten a devil’s fruit that allowed my soul to return to my body. It took longer than expected, which is why I am left in this state, but I am still able to wield my sword adequately. It warms my heart to have new crewmates… although I don’t have one, yohohoho!”

The orange haired girl waited irritatedly for the laughter to die down. “Nami,” she said curtly. “24,000,000. Formerly a pirate. Currently one of the best and most accomplished cat burglars on the Line. I’m a good navigator and I can hold my own in a fight.”

“I’m Usopp,” said the long-nosed boy. “I left my home island in the East Blue with a travelling circus, and we’ve been travelling the Line for almost five years now. I specialize in acrobatics and target shooting. I don’t actually fight, myself. So, uh, I’ll be counting on you guys in that regard.” 

Chopper had to stand up on his chair to make himself visible to everyone. He looked nervous again. “I… I am Doctor Tony Tony Chopper. My powers allow me to think and talk like a human, and I can also transform between several different forms.” He quickly sat back down.

“What kind of doctor?” asked Usopp.

“A medical doctor. What other kind of doctor would I be?”

“Sorry, I’ve just never met a doctor who was a… what are you exactly, anyway?”

“I’m a reindeer!” 

“Well you certainly don’t look like one,” said Nami, resting an elbow on the table.

“That’s a very rude thing to say!” Chopper said, his nervousness now replaced by annoyance.

“Ok, ok, calm down, Doctor Chopper,” Robin cut in. “It doesn’t matter what you look like, what matters is that you’re part of our crew now. Let’s let our final comrade introduce himself,” she said, gesturing to Sanji in the seat beside her.

He looked slightly surprised. “Comrade? I’m only here because I was ordered to be here.”

“Like I just got through saying, it doesn’t matter. Since you’re going to be travelling with us, I expect you to fight with us and trust us just like everybody else here.”

“Oh… ok then, I guess,” he said, looking around at all the eyes turned in his direction. “I am capt- I’m Sanji. I was pretty much raised by my mentor, Admiral Aokiji. I am proficient in martial arts, and was the youngest marine ever promoted to the position of captain. 

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Franky protested, holding up his massive hands. “Did you just say that you were sent here? I thought no one else knew about this!”

“Admiral Aokiji is the only one outside this island that knows,” Robin said. 

“What on earth made you think it was ok to tell a marine admiral what we’re planning?!”

Robin placed her hands on the tabletop. “Hear this and understand; Aokiji is trustworthy. He once saved my life, and I know him well. He will not divulge our secret to anyone. In fact, he doesn’t even know who is here. I would not have told him if I wasn’t completely sure that he would not betray us. Am I clear?”

A murmur of ‘yes, captain’s rippled around the table. Sanji looked at her curiously. Robin would have been willing to bet that Aokiji had never told the young marine about his involvement with her. 

They had been sitting in the dining room for some time by then. The sun was beginning to set outside their window. Lights had come on inside as a couple of other people had entered and sat down to food and drink. 

“So,” said Zoro, pushing an empty plate away, “what’s the plan, captain? Where do we go first?”

Robin put her fingers to her temples, trying to focus her mind. Perhaps being a captain was tougher than she had originally thought.

“Once we’re ready to sail, we’re heading to where Eneru is first.”

Usopp looked surprised. “What, just like that?”

“Yes, just like that,” Robin said. “He is the best target for us, right now. He’s not currently allied with any other influential people, and he doesn’t have an established base to defend from. Plus he’s already terrorized several islands, causing pain and death everywhere he goes.” 

“If we’re going to be fighting right off the bat,” Sanji began cautiously, “I think we should do some training. Find out how each of us fights, and what it’ll be like to work together.”

“Excellent suggestion, Sanji.” Robin smiled mischievously. “Actually, I already had something in mind for tomorrow.”

She stood up from the table and looked around at all of them. “But until then,” she said, “get some rest. You’ll certainly need it; we’ve got our work cut out for us.” 

One by one they got up and left. Such a diverse assortment of people, she thought, watching them go. So far their prospects on the whole ‘working together’ front weren’t looking very good. She fervently hoped that they would prove her wrong the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone's interested, I put up a few illustrations of the crew on my tumblr, just to show how some of them have changed for the purposes of this au. Here's the link to the post: http://highly-opinionated-nerd.tumblr.com/post/157441457101/this-is-for-you-my-new-favorite


	4. In Which a Test Takes Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew participates in a teamwork building exercise involving many mischievous children and lots and lots of paint.

Robin placed two large buckets of blue paint on the grass in front of her crew. “I’m going to need all of you to dip your weapons in this,” she said, pointing. “Nonono, not you Zoro, we’re not using real swords today. See that rack over there? You can get some wooden staves from there. Brook, you should be fine if you just use your cane.”

Zoro resheathed his swords with a scowl and walked in the direction she indicated. Chopper and Luffy leaned over the buckets with curiosity. “Why? What’s the paint for?” asked Usopp.

“It’s so that when you score a hit on an enemy, it’ll leave a mark. Don’t worry, Sanji,” she added, seeing reluctance written all over his face, “it’s not permanent. It’ll wash off in no time.” 

“Seems like fun!” Luffy said, and plunged both his hands into the paint without hesitation. 

“Ah, Luffy, stop! You’re splashing,” exclaimed Nami, raising her hands to shield her face.

“Hang on, I think I’ve got a something that’ll help,” said Usopp, rummaging in his satchel and emerging with a large paintbrush. “Hold out your hands, Franky,” he instructed, and began applying an even coating of paint to the cyborg’s huge metal hands. 

Zoro returned carrying three paint-stained bamboo staves. “Oi,” he said to Robin, “those guys are our opponents, right? Hitting them with these is still going to hurt pretty badly.”

Robin smiled and glanced over at the large gaggle of revolutionary children at the other end of the field. They were talking and stretching energetically, coating their own wooden weapons in bright orange paint. “You shouldn’t be so quick to underestimate them, Zoro. After all, they have played this game many more times than you have.”

He didn’t look all that convinced, but chose to let the issue slide. He moved over to their buckets and got to work on coating his staves in blue paint. 

“Listen up, everyone, I’m going to explain the rules now,” Robin said, clapping her hands. Her team looked around at her. Luffy and Franky had blue paint dripping slowly from their hands. Sanji was sitting on the ground while Usopp painted the soles of his shoes.

“It’s very simple, actually. You have two goals: to protect your own flag, and to take the enemy's’ flag. You are permitted to use any tactics you wish, as long as you don’t kill anyone.”

“Will you be with us?” asked Nami, loading a round of the revolutionaries’ special blue paintballs into the barrel of one of her handheld pistols. 

Robin shook her head. “No, this first time, I’m just going to watch and see how you do. Everyone has their portable den den mushi, right?” They nodded. “Excellent. You may use those to communicate with each other as long as you are on the battlefield. I’ll be watching from up there,” she pointed to an enclosed treehouse overlooking the rectangular field. 

“Battlefield?” Usopp repeated nervously. “Is that what this is? A battlefield?!”

Chopper smoothly morphed into his large, hulking bipedal shape. “Usopp, can you put some paint on my antlers?”

Luffy laughed. “That’s awesome, Chopper!” He pounded his fist into the palm of his other hand. “Don’t worry guys, we’ve got this. It’ll be easy!”

Robin ascended the ladder into the observation tree house and surveyed the scene. The eight members of her crew stood at one end of the field, faced with a small army of the kids that lived and trained with the revolution on Nelia. Capture the Flag was a common exercise for them, and they were excited to have a chance to play against new opponents. 

She smiled to herself, anticipating how the crew would react when their first match resulted in their utter defeat.

At the sound of the starting bell, half of the children surged forward immediately, a swarm of toothy grins and orange-tinted weapons that seemed to move as one entity. Robin leaned over and flicked a switch on the wall that allowed her to hear everything that her crew said over den den mushi.

“... ll go get their flag, the rest of you can stay here,” Zoro’s voice crackled to life in the room. 

“No, wait! Damn it, we’re supposed to be working together,” Sanji said, but it was no use. Zoro took off towards the opposite end of the field, wielding his three wooden staves offensively. Luffy whooped loudly and followed suit. Sanji cursed and ran after them. Nami, Brook, and Franky started to follow, but by then the first wave of revolutionaries hit the blue side of the field and they were forced to stop short and defend themselves. 

Chopper hesitated, then he too moved forward to meet the oncoming opponents. He swung his fists with great power, but little control. His tan fur was dotted with orange splotches in minutes. 

Usopp was the only one who remained behind to guard the blue flag. He had produced a large slingshot from somewhere, and was handling it well, launching one projectile after another, splattering enemies left and right with blue. However, his lack of combat experience was taking a toll on his performance, causing him to panic and miss his shots.

Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji made it almost three quarters of the way across the field before their offensive run fell apart. Individually, they were expert fighters with experience and tactics, but jumbled up together without a plan, they were a mess. Sanji’s kicks and Zoro’s swings were constantly interfering with each other, and Luffy’s flailing limbs seemed to be everywhere, which wasn’t helping. Robin’s den den mushi feed was a cacophony of frustrated yells and streams of uttered curses.

The revolutionary children moved as a team, watching each other’s backs and playing up each other’s strengths. Their communications were few, but efficient. They grinned at the blue team’s increasingly unsuccessful attempts to hit them, and laughed when they managed to tag one of their opponents with another orange splotch. 

The match lasted for a grand total of about six minutes before the orange team triumphantly claimed the blue flag. Usopp lay on the ground with a single large blot of orange right in the middle of his chest. Robin nodded approvingly. In truth, she hadn’t expected them to last that long on their first go. She decided to watch them for a few minutes more as they regrouped at their end of the field. 

The entire left side of Sanji’s face was covered in orange paint, and he scrubbed at it lividly. “What the hell was that?” He yelled at Zoro and Luffy. “Running out like that, I told you guys to wait!” 

“What for? I thought we were supposed to get their flag,” Luffy said.

Zoro crossed his arms. “I didn’t need your help. I could have taken them, if someone hadn’t kept getting in my way!”

Sanji’s eyes widened in anger. “So now it’s my fault is it?” he shouted. “Is that what you’re trying to say here?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying!”

The two young men stood opposite each other, and one could almost sense the sparks flying between them. Sanji’s fists were balled and Zoro stood tensely, hands hovering over his wooden weapons. 

Nami was the only one brave enough to get close. She walked right up to them and shoved them each roughly, forcing them to turn their attention to her.

“Excuse me, but in case you hadn’t noticed, this was supposed to be a group effort. That’s why they won. You both left us behind!” 

Usopp sat up groggily. “No offense Nami, but I didn’t see you helping me defend the flag either.”

Nami rounded on him, offense written all over her face. “And you! You call that pathetic performance back there a defense? It sucked!”

“I already told you guys that I don’t fight!”

Robin watched them from her overhead vantage point. Any sense of civility soon disintegrated as everyone shouted at everyone else all at once. She let them blow off steam for a few moments, then flicked a switch and spoke into her den den mushi before Sanji and Zoro started a fight. 

“That’s enough, everybody.” The quieted, but the atmosphere of tension and frustration didn’t lessen. “All around, I think that could have gone better, don’t you?”

“I thought you were supposed to be the one guiding us,” Franky said accusingly over the line.

“I might not always be there with you,” Robin reasoned. “And besides, it will make it easier on all of us if you learn this lesson on your own first. You know what you did wrong, yes? Then fix it this time.”

She flicked the switch back again, cutting off her own connection. They all stood silently for a moment, but then Nami began speaking and pointing. Other mouths moved and heads nodded; they spread out and took up positions, readying themselves for the next round.

Robin smiled. Quick learners. Just as she had hoped. 

Just after the bell was rung to begin the second round, someone opened the door to the observation room and entered quietly. 

Robin turned her head away from the field. “Why hello there, Dragon.”

He walked over and stood at her side, surveying the game in progress. “Are you making progress with them, Robin?”

“I think so, yes. Hard to tell just yet.” She leaned over and pointed into the thick of the fighting at the center of the field. “Look there, that boy. Do you know him?”

Dragon stood stoically, face unreadable. “Yes,” he said eventually, eyes tracking Luffy’s every erratic movement.

“If he was here, would he know you?” He remained silent, and she sighed. “You should say something to him before we leave. Talk to him, Dragon.”

He shook his head ever so slightly. “He’s better off this way. We both are.”

“How could you know that if you’ve never spoken with him?”

The sunlight, filtered through the jungle canopy, streamed through into the room and illuminated his face. His blood red tattoo was thrown into a sharp contrast of light and shadow. Somehow, it made him seem older and more tired than Robin could ever recall seeing him. 

Below them on the field, Luffy slipped through the orange team’s last line of defense and managed to lay hands on their flag. He raised his paint-stained arms and cheered, his laugh echoing throughout the observation room. “I just know,” Dragon said quietly.

 

Robin approached her crew, most of whom were sprawled out on the ground at their end of the field. She smiled. It was actually impressive how seriously they had applied themselves to the game. 

“Well done. You managed to win on only your second try! I suppose this means you understand why all this was necessary?”

Most of them nodded or murmured consent. Sanji said, “yes ma’am” very quietly, but he was glowering at Zoro, who was ignoring him completely. Robin sighed inwardly. She could tell that those two were going to be a lot to handle. 

“Good,” she said, overlooking their behavior for the moment. “In that case, I want you all to line up there, in the middle. Come on, line up for counting,” she called out louder, motioning to the kids at the other end of the field. 

Those that were sitting rose to their feet- or in Usopp’s case, staggered- and moved to stand in a ragged line facing their earlier opponents. Close up, it was painfully obvious how young some of the revolutionary children were; some couldn’t have been older than eight or nine. Two little boys made faces at Brook while a skinny girl with pigtails laughed.

“Ok kids,” Robin told them, “everyone with a blue mark on them, please come forward and stand at the front. Don’t push now, you know better than that… good.”

She turned back to her crew and gestured behind her. “I said earlier that it was impressive how quickly you managed to work together well enough to get their flag. But the lesson here is twofold, and you’ve failed the more important part. The marks indicate how many low-level enemies you would have incapacitated in a real combat situation. Each of you has at least a dozen orange marks on you, and yet less than half of your opponents has even one blue mark.”

She paused and looked every one of them in the eye, making sure that they understood her clearly. “Try not to get cocky just because you won the second time. We still have a lot of work to do.” She smiled. “But it can wait. For now, we need to get you all cleaned up. Kids, would you be so kind as to show our new friends to the river bank?”

“The what?” asked Nami, but before anyone could answer her, they were swept up in a tide of cheering, paint-stained children that was slowly pushing them towards a well-worn path leading away from the field. 

Robin laughed aloud at the sight. “I expect you back in the village in an hour,” she called to her crew, “so that we can get some work done on the ship!”

There was no way to tell if any of them had heard her. Zoro was snapping at the nearby kids, presumably telling them not to keep touching him, but to no avail. Franky self-consciously raised his arms in an attempt to keep his massive metal hands from hitting anyone in the head. Luffy was laughing along with them. As she watched he picked up a small girl and boosted her onto his shoulders.

A part of Robin actually wanted to join them, but she decided to leave them be and take the opportunity to get some of her own work done. Still, she couldn’t help smiling at the thought of the kids splashing and frolicking while the pirates tried to clean up. She made a mental note not to be upset with them if it took them longer than an hour to return. 

 

Afternoon found them hard at work out on the docks, working on making their vessel shipshape. Robin had deferred leadership temporarily to Franky’s expertise and experience, and he had assigned them all different chores to perform. 

“We’re going to need a new figurehead,” Nami pointed out from where she sat on the deck, slowly mending small tears in the sails with a needle and thread. “What kind of tacky pirates would we be if we sailed around with a figurehead like that?”

Robin, who was using a multitude of arms to run a complicated series of ropes up and down the mast, giggled and glanced over at the weathered dragon figurehead. “I agree. Any suggestions, Franky?”

“I don’t know, never thought about it,” he yelled from where he was mortaring cracks in the wood on their ship’s starboard side. “A lion would be super cool though.”

“Does this ship even have a name?” asked Chopper, a mop held clumsily in his hooved hands.

“Yes it does,” Robin told him. “This is the Starscape. Kind of a strange name, but I didn’t pick it.”

“Wait a second,” Usopp’s voice came floating from the galley, “do we have a name? As a crew?”

Robin thought for a moment. “We could be the Flower Pirates,” she said jokingly, thinking of her devil fruit’s creative name. 

Franky grunted negatively and Usopp called, “rejected!”

“Songbird Pirates,” said Nami musingly. “What?” she added defensively when her statement was greeted with laughs. “Our captain’s name is a kind of bird, after all.”

Robin grinned. “I love it Nami. That settles it: as of now you are all members of the Songbird Crew.”

“I didn’t agree to that,” called Zoro from somewhere belowdecks. 

“Too bad, I’ve already made up my mind.”

She stood and surveyed their progress. With luck, the Starscape would be able to sail within a week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think I mentioned this before, but the design for the revolutionaries' hq is based on the hideout of Jet's Freedom Fighters in ATLA. The colorful twist on Capture the Flag was inspired by the Practice Practice Practice scene from The Swan Princess, one of my favorite animated movies.


	5. In Which a Plan Begins to Take Shape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin and crew spend a few more days on Nelia before leaving on their journey. Where will they go first? Keep reading to find out!

Robin and her newly christened Songbird Pirates ended up staying another five days on Nelia. She kept them on a strict schedule of training in the mornings and working on the ship in the afternoon. Franky kept complaining that they could have finished their work much quicker without stopping to play Capture the Flag all the time, but Robin was convinced that they should take advantage of being able to play against part of the revolutionary army while they had the chance.

On the morning of the third day, the kids they had been playing against were replaced by a smaller team of older revolutionary soldiers. Ranging from teen to adult, their new opponents brought their own battle experience to the field and soundly defeated the Songbirds three times in a row.

After that, she started playing her own role in their matches. She stood back by the blue flag and directed their actions, calmly rattling off orders and watching her crew’s backs while they battled their way across the field. Eventually they got used to listening to her instructions in their ears and were able to win a game against the revolutionaries, even though they were totally covered in orange paint afterwards. 

After the morning training was over, they always moved as a group down the path that led to a wide section of riverbank deeper in the jungle. The revolutionaries had been using this river for years to wash up after a game of Capture the Flag. 

Robin was almost never marked by the opposing side, but she went with them anyway. She enjoyed watching the lively interactions between her old friends and her new crew. Luffy, Chopper, and Brook weren’t supposed to go into the river itself, of course, but they frequently forgot themselves and had to be dragged up from the water, choking and spluttering, by an irate Zoro or an exasperated Sanji. 

The paint washed easily from clothes, but everyone always ended up thoroughly soaked in the process. Franky remarked laughingly that he was going to be rusted stiff if they stayed on Nelia much longer. After a few days, Nami, tired of trying to wash paint off her back without being able to see it, gave up altogether and pulled her shirt off. She stood thigh-deep in the river, wearing only a practical, blue striped bra above her jeans, joking with a nearby revolutionary woman that this wasn’t how she had pictured her life turning out when she was little. Sanji tried without much success to avoid openly staring at her smooth white skin. Brook cat-called something vaguely insulting and Nami threw a river stone at him.

Robin laughed. The tension that had plagued them since day one was still present, but it was significantly lessened. She was glad to see that her crewmates were starting to get more comfortable around each other. 

In addition to training, they also worked hard every day on fixing up their ship. Progress with the Starscape went faster than Franky or Robin had dared to hope. With so many pairs of hands to help out, not to mention Luffy’s and Robin’s powers, work went smoothly and efficiently. 

Chopper and Usopp were the only ones that had no experience sailing, but they each picked it up surprisingly quickly. Chopper’s large muscular form was very useful for things like hoisting ropes and hauling anchors. Usopp was soon swinging from the rigging and scaling the yards with ease. He told them that it was just like doing tightrope or platform stunts, only without a crowd to watch.

They finished just as the sun began to set on their fifth day, and stood back to admire their handiwork from the dock. In just five days, the ship had been transformed. The hull had been worked over and polished until it shone like new, and the newly-repaired sails had been washed until they were white and clean. Franky had carved their new figurehead himself; a robin in flight, its wings swept back and its small bright eyes fixed on the distant horizon. Usopp had designed a unique pirate flag for them, which Robin quite liked. The black background bore a traditional white skull, but instead of crossbones it was surrounded by a flurry of symmetrical arms, symbolizing her powers. The stylish purple hat it wore had been Robin’s request (Usopp hadn’t thought it necessary, but she had insisted). 

The flag fluttered high atop the mast in the evening wind as they stood quietly, staring at the ship that would soon be carrying them across the ocean towards an unknown fate. 

“Everyone should go get some rest,” Robin said. “We sail first thing in the morning.”

 

Koala, Sabo, and Kohza came to the docks early the next morning to see them off. A bunch of the kids came too… for reasons Robin didn’t fully comprehend, they were completely taken with her crew. 

None of the revolutionaries except for Robin’s original research partners and Dragon knew the true purpose of their voyage, and she had asked the Songbirds to make sure it stayed that way (she had also asked Sanji to keep an extra eye on Luffy to make sure that the airheaded boy didn’t say too much). But thankfully, it seemed that her worries had been unfounded; the children seemed completely satisfied with the simple explanation of, ‘it’s a secret!’

“Robin,” Koala said, taking the older woman’s hands in her own, “you know that you can always come here if you need a place to lay low for a while. And if you ever need anything, you just call me, ok? I’ll be right there. Don’t do anything too rash. Keep those pirates of yours under control, and always make sure you have enough food supplies on your ship. And try to get a good night’s sleep every night, it’s important to-”

“I will, Koala, don’t you worry about me,” Robin cut her off, smiling gently. “We’ll be fine, and some day, when this is all over, we’ll come back.”

Koala returned her smile tremulously. “Be safe out there, Robin. We’ll be waiting.”

Kohza shook Robin’s hand solemnly. He didn’t try to dissuade her or warn her about the dangers of sailing with such a diverse crew, he merely thanked her for everything she had done for him and wished her a safe passage.

“Kohza,” Robin said, suddenly remembering the promise she had made herself, “where is your home island?”

He blinked at her. “My….It’s Alabasta. Why?”

“No reason. But now, if our travels do happen to take us there, I will know.” 

He nodded and gave her one of his rare smiles. “It’s a beautiful place, once you get past all the sand. Keep in touch, Robin.”

Sabo separated himself from Luffy for a moment and approached her. “So, you’re really doing this, huh? Sailing away from us in a rickety old boat, with a ragtag group of strangers, trying to save the world.”

“They aren’t strangers anymore,” she told him, “and we will be the ones to change all this.” 

He inclined his head slightly. “I know you will, Robin. You’ve never let us down before.” He hesitated, running his fingers around the brim of his hat on the side of his face that was burned and scarred. It was something he did frequently whenever he was uncomfortable. “Robin… I owe you my thanks. If not for you, I may never have remembered my past. But for more than that, for all the missions we’ve run together and for everything you’ve taught me over the years.”

He raised his eyes to hers. “Ace and Luffy are my sworn brothers. But I’ve always thought of you as kinda like my older sister, and I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for us, even if I don’t really show it.”

Robin laughed. “Thank you, Sabo! That was very sweet of you to say.” She stepped forward and hugged him. After a moment, he even relaxed a little and stiffly hugged her back. Then the moment was past, and he was moving back to where Koala and Kohza were waiting a short distance away.

She waved at them as they walked away, back up the dock, back towards the jungle base. Koala called out for the children to say their goodbyes, and the crowd began to disperse, leaving only the pirates behind in the pale morning light. 

Robin exhaled slowly, letting go of her role as a soldier of the revolution for the final time. She was a pirate captain now. “Let’s get going,” she said to her crew. They gathered what few possessions they had and began climbing the boarding ramp up to the Starscape. 

Once aboard, they each moved to their own station without speaking and made ready to cast off on her order. She was pleased that they each knew their place without her having to even say a word. 

At her word sails were loosed, the anchor was raised, and the mooring lines were untied. Nami tested the wind and shouted back to Franky, who spun the wheel expertly. They pulled away from the docks, out into the harbor. They were underway.

Robin spared one last glance back at Nelia, and a lone figure caught her eye, standing on the beach and watching them go. Dragon, she realized. She waved to him.

“Who’s that, Robin?” Luffy asked curiously. “Do you know him?”

“Yes I do. And hopefully someday, you will too, Luffy.” Robin smiled at him mysteriously.

“What course, captain?” called Nami from her post up on the poop deck.

Robin turned her gaze forward. “North and East, Ms. Navigator. We’re headed for the Thundergod. He will be our first target.”

 

Once their course was definitively set, she gathered them all on the deck for a strategy session. They sat in a rough circle, and in the center she spread out all the information she had on Eneru, the Thundergod. Even her vast network, however, hadn’t been able to supply her with much. He had mysteriously appeared in the East Blue over a year ago, aboard a massive flying ark, and demanded to be worshipped like a god. Everywhere that he was met with resistance, he attacked and left death and destruction behind.

“It says here, ‘the Thundergod is presumed to have come from a previously unknown land,’” read Usopp from one of the scattered papers in front of them.

“Impossible,” Nami scoffed. “No land is unknown. He must have come from somewhere.”

“He was last reported seen entering the Grand Line,” Usopp continued. “That’s weird, what does he want here?”

“No one really knows for sure,” Robin answered. “But personally, I don’t think that this Eneru thought that he would have to work this hard to be recognized when he arrived here from wherever he came from. He doesn’t seem totally right in the head. It’s entirely possible that he sees the Warlords or the Emperors as competition and has set out to try to take them down first.”

Luffy picked up a page with Eneru’s face pictured on it. “Wow, this guy sure is ugly.”

“We can’t let him reach any of the bigshot pirates, let alone the government,” Franky said. “He’d start a huge bloodbath.”

Sanji nudged one of the papers on the deck. “Judging from all this, he already has,” he said quietly. 

“How do we take him out?” Zoro asked Robin. “I’m assuming you don’t want us to head in without a plan.”

She nodded. “Unfortunately, we don’t have as much intel on this guy as I’d like, so it’s hard to come up with anything too difinitive. There’s also this to consider.”

From underneath some of the other papers she pulled one page and held it up for them to see: on it was a single, blurry photograph of a huge and strangely constructed ship. “This,” Robin explained, “is the Maxim. His vessel. It has the capacity to fire some sort of enormous lightning-type weapon. No one who’s ever seen that weapon up close has lived to tell the tale. Defeating Eneru won’t mean much if we can’t take this thing out too.”

“Exactly how big is that monstrosity?” asked Brook incredulously.

“Larger than two marine warships put together.”

There was a moment of silence as that fact sunk in. “Ok I know I’m not supposed to be impressed by the enemy’s stuff, but daaaaaaaamn,” said Franky. “How on earth did he get something like that to fly?! Seriously, all that gold must be extremely heavy.”

“Maybe it runs on the same kind of energy that powers the weapon,” put in Chopper thoughtfully.

Nami cocked her head to the side. “That still doesn’t explain where all that energy comes from, though. What do they do, wait for a lightning strike to power them up?”

“Of course!” Robin slapped a hand to her forehead. “Eneru must have powers over lightning! He’s the one controlling the ship and the weapon!”

She stood up excitedly and walked quickly towards her quarters, muttering to herself about overlooking the obvious. She returned with a notebook, which she started scribbling in furiously. 

“Lightning is just electrical energy. Without Eneru, the ship won’t function! That certainly makes our job a whole lot simpler.”

“Hold on a sec there, captain,” Zoro said, brow furrowed. “Maybe we can take out the ship, but how are we supposed to fight a lightning man? Somehow I don’t think wooden swords are going to be much use in this situation.”

Robin paused for a moment. Then it hit her and she laughed out loud, causing her crew some amount of concern. “We use Luffy!” she said, pointing her pen at him decisively.

Luffy blinked. “You want to use me as… a wooden sword?”

“No! You’re made of rubber, right? His powers won’t affect you. You can fight him!”

“Oh!” he grinned. “Well, if you say so, then that’s what I’ll do. Leave it to me, guys!”

Nami frowned. “But what if the Thundergod has something else up his sleeve? No offense, but I don’t think leaving this entirely in Luffy’s hands is such a great idea. There are plenty of powered people who also keep weapons on them in case their powers get negated in a fight somehow.”

“Hm, good point. Luffy, how’s your Haki? I mean you clearly have some kind, but can you control it?”

He nodded assent and held up a fist. Before their eyes his skin darkened and hardened. Heat seemed to emanate from his outstretched arm. “I’ve got Busoshoku mastered. Ryleigh, my teacher, got me started on controlling Haoshoku too, but I don’t have it quite down yet.”

Robin was stunned speechless for a moment. Haoshoku Haki was an incredibly rare ability, and for a boy so young to possess any kind of control over it was practically unheard of. 

She grinned unreservedly. History was beginning to unfold right here, right in front of her, on this small ship in the middle of the ocean. Suddenly it was as if she could see far away into the future, a future that remembered her and her crew. It made her feel dizzy.

“Alright. Here’s what we’re going to do when we find him…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had to go back and reexamine a lot of stuff from the original Skypoeia arc just to get this far. I hope you all appreciate how much effort I'm putting in over here (just kidding, I'm enjoying myself immensely)


	6. In Which Time is on Nobody's Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Songbirds arrive at Whiskey Peak, only to receive some Very Bad News.

Eneru of Skypeia stood on the deck of the Maxim, looking out at the vast expanse of moonlit ocean rushing past below him. He didn’t stand too close to the edge though, because since his descent to Earth he had learned to fear the water. The one thing that could render him powerless and weak. 

He had never known a fear like that before, and he hated it. 

Someone approached him from behind. He didn’t bother to turn around. 

“My lord,” said the someone quietly, “an island has been spotted ahead.” Eneru didn’t know offhand who it was, but he didn’t care either. 

“I know that,” he said scornfully. The figure behind him stiffened, terrified of having offended the Thundergod by unwittingly assuming His ignorance. “When will we arrive,” Eneru asked flatly.

“W-we should be there sometime tomorrow, my lord,” his follower stammered.

“Good. We will stop there and have a...talk…with the inhabitants. If they do not see eye to eye with us, we will use them as an example just like the others.” He waved a hand dismissively.

“Yes, my lord, of course.” The follower turned and walked back towards the inside of the ship as quickly as he could without actually running and openly displaying his panic.

Eneru went back to watching the water. The ways of the Blue Sea were maddeningly strange to him. His army of followers had gained several new recruits since his arrival here, but they did not believe. Surely they knew that he knew that they did not believe in him. And yet they stayed anyway. At first it had driven him mad.

But he understood now. They were afraid of him. That was what kept them in line. It seemed that belief alone was not enough to rule this new world: he would have to make them fear him first.

Right now there were several individuals that the people of this world feared more than they feared Eneru, and that was a problem. But he would take care of it soon. Once he defeated these so-called Warlords, and these false Emperors, and the Marines (whoever they were), everyone would know his name. And they would fear him, and he would rule them all.

The Maxim flew so slowly that the waters of the Grand Line beneath him seemed almost to stand still. As if he could walk across the surface effortlessly.

He knew that wasn’t the case though. He didn’t want to acknowledge the fear that was ever present in the back of his mind. Didn’t want to think about how exhausted he was after flying the huge ark for so long, didn’t want to think about what would happen if fear wasn’t enough to defeat the current rulers of this world.

Eneru was a god, and gods aren’t vulnerable. They aren’t weak.

He would prove himself. He hadn’t come this far only to be defeated. He’d rather die than continue living in a world that didn’t recognize him, and gods never die…!

The ship flew on. The sea remained the same. 

 

“I’m staaaarving,” Luffy whined in lieu of a morning greeting. 

“Good morning, Luffy,” Robin said. She had been up for hours already, but the rest of them were only now beginning to emerge yawning onto the deck- seemed she was sailing with a crew of late sleepers. “We brought plenty of provisions, if you’d like to make something.”

“No!” Usopp shouted, waving his hands in warning. “Don’t let him in the galley! He made food one time while we were staying in that inn and it was totally inedible.”

Nami scowled. “Well I’m not cooking for you guys,” she snapped. Robin judged that she was not a morning person.

“So what, every man for himself then? That what we’re doing?” Franky asked. “My upgrades weren’t designed with flipping omelets in mind.” 

Sanji stepped forward hesitantly. “Um… if you guys want, I could, you know. Make something.”

Everyone looked at him, looks ranging from surprised to skeptical. Sanji understood his place as an outsider among the group, and usually kept to himself.

He flushed ever so slightly under their gazes. “If you don’t want me to then-”

“No way, man, we want you to!” Usopp assured him quickly. “It’s just surprising is all. That you can cook.”

Sanji shrugged and walked towards their small galley. “It’s a hobby,” he said over his shoulder.

Nami chuckled and headed for the wheel, unrolling a map as she walked. “A marine who can cook. I’ve changed my mind, let’s keep him.”

“What’s so bad about him being a marine?” asked Chopper. “They help people, don’t they? Like we’re doing.”

“They don’t always do the best thing, Chopper,” said Brook quietly. 

There was a moment of silence as the crew each reflected on their own past experiences with the agents of the world government, most of which had ended badly.

Luffy sat down on the deck. “I like Sanji though,” he said sleepily. “He seems like a nice guy, for a marine. Plus he didn’t try to leave us to fend for ourselves in the middle of that jungle, so he’s already doing better than any marine I know.”

“Mm,” Usopp acknowledged drowsily. Then, “wait, what?”

“‘S’ok, I could handle it now anyway.”

“How’s it looking from there, Ms. Navigator?” Robin called to Nami, who was making minute adjustments to their course at the helm. 

Nami smiled. “Going great, captain. This map is amazing! I never knew it was possible to sail through the Line this way. Your revolution sure has got this figured out.”

She was pretty when she smiled, Robin noted. It lessened the severity of her appearance, with her shaved head and silver lip ring. “Well, there’s no way it would be possible without a great navigator at the wheel. And a well-constructed ship to make the journey in,” she added flashing Franky an appreciative thumbs up. He grinned and gave a mock bow.

The door to the galley opened shortly afterwards and Sanji stuck his head out. “Breakfast,” he announced, and was greeted with a ragged cheer from Luffy.

They gathered in the galley and seated themselves at the large round table in the middle of the room. The Starscape’s galley was actually significantly bigger than the one on the ship Robin had previously sailed on. They could fit the entire crew inside, which was nice.

“Wait a moment, where’s Zoro?” she asked, noticing his absence once they were all together in front of her.

“Still asleep,” said Chopper, Zoro’s bunkmate. “He could probably sleep through a tornado, that’s how asleep he was when I got up this morning.”

Robin laughed. “Sanji, please make sure to save some food for our swordsman, would you?”

“Can do, captain,” Sanji replied as he brought over a huge tray laden with food and placed it in the middle of the table. He sure had managed to make a lot in such a short time.

The crew wasted no time before digging in. “Thish ish sho good!” exclaimed Luffy with his mouth full, and everyone agreed.

“You passed, so we decided you can stay,” Nami told Sanji matter-of-factly. 

He smiled tentatively, unsure if she was serious or merely joking. “Always happy to help a pretty girl like yourself.” She winked and took a huge bite of her breakfast in a most unladylike manner. 

Zoro straggled in sometime during their meal, and once again they were all sitting and eating at the same table. Robin was overjoyed to see them getting along, the tension and guarded hostility of their first meal all but forgotten.

“So,” Franky said after they had all eaten their fill, “when will we get to this island, Nami?”

“Probably sometime this afternoon,” she replied, leaning an elbow on the table. “I remember my first time at Cactus island.”

Chopper frowned. “Sounds hot there.”

“Well yeah, it’s- wait, Chopper have you never been? It’s pretty much the first island on the Line.”

“I’m from Drum Island. A winter island a little ways farther in.”

Robin cocked her head to the side. “Will a reindeer like yourself be ok in the heat, Chopper?”

“I don’t know, really. It should be fine though.”

“Anyway,” Franky resumed, “what will we do if we get there and this Eneru guy has already been there? Do we just chase after him?”

“Good question,” Sanji said thoughtfully. “Starscape’s fast, but I doubt she’s quick enough to catch up to a flying rig like the Maxim. We’d just be stuck following him indefinitely.”

“Actually, it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Nami. “The revolutionaries have this great method of sailing by landmarks and currents instead of by log poses, so I think we could do it.”

“We could indeed, but I am fairly certain that we won’t have to.” Robin smiled confidently. “If my calculations are correct, we should actually arrive just before he does.”

“And then we go after the ship, right?” asked Zoro. “Incapacitate them.”

“Exactly. He won’t even know what hit him!”

 

Sure enough, Cactus Island came into view on the horizon in the early afternoon. Chopper marveled at the enormous, round cacti surrounding the port town of Whiskey Peak, and Luffy recounted the time that he had gotten stuck on one of them the first time he had passed through the island with Shanks’ crew. 

Together, Nami and Franky expertly guided the ship towards the winding canal through the town. Everything was going smoothly, but nevertheless Robin started to develop an uneasy feeling that only seemed to grow the closer they got to land. 

By the time they had successfully entered the mouth of the canal, she knew for sure that something was wrong. There was too much activity on the docks, too many ships lined up along the canal waiting to launch.

“Wonder what’s going on,” Luffy said, leaning dangerously far over the starboard railing trying to get a better look.

“Be careful there, Luffy. Franky, take us closer to the town,” Robin instructed.

Franky maneuvered them towards the side of the canal, positioning the Starscape into a space barely big enough for her left between two nearby ships. 

Robin moved over to the side of the deck, surveying the situation before them. Alarm bells were going off in her head, but she had to confirm her suspicions before taking any action. “Excuse me!” she called out to a man that was hurrying to haul a load of cargo to one of the ships nearest them. “Excuse me, could you tell me what’s going on here?”

The man looked surprised at Robin’s question. He was elderly, probably in his late sixties, and the crate of cargo he had been carrying seemed far too heavy for him. His gaze frantically flicked from side to side, as if he was afraid something was going to come after him.

“Travellers, are you? I’m sorry but you couldn’t have come at a worse time,” he called back. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn your ship around right now. Get out while you can!”

“Wait!” she yelled as the man started to turn away from them. “Tell us why! Why are you fleeing the town?”

He hesitated, once again glancing over his shoulder fearfully. “The Thundergod is here,” he said, almost too quietly for them to hear. Then he picked his crate up and left with it as quick as he could.

“Oh no,” Nami murmured. She pointed to one of the giant cacti in the distance. Just visible behind it, the edge of a huge golden disk sparkled in the sun. For a moment everyone was frozen in place in shock.

“We miscalculated,” Robin said. She snapped herself out of it and forced herself not to panic. “Change of plans. We move now. We have to stop him before he destroys all of Whiskey Peak.” 

She turned and faced them. “Tie the ship down. Nami, Usopp, I want you to make sure you bring as much ammo with you as you can carry. Move!”

They secured the Starscape and disembarked in record time; within minutes they were running through deserted streets towards the Maxim, their captain in the lead.

“Stick together as much as possible,” Robin shouted over her shoulder, “but don’t let anyone get in Luffy’s way! He must make it to Eneru! Does everyone understand the plan?”

“Yes ma’am!” they chorused back at her.

“Then let’s get going. It’s up to us to save this island now!”

They ran. Their first test in a real battle was about to commence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always been totally sure that Eneru was 100% convinced that he was actually a god. I feel like experiencing very human things like fear and exhaustion would put him on the edge of a breakdown, so I tried to write it like that. I'm not really sure I got it across the way I hoped? But it was a fun change of pace anyway. I know I've delayed this fight long enough, but it'll be the next chapter, I promise.


	7. In Which Sparks Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin and her crew tangle with the priests of Eneru's army while Franky tries to find a way to sabotage the ship and Luffy confronts Eneru himself.

The sun beat down mercilessly on the Songbird crew as they ran on, leaving the paved streets and stone buildings of Whiskey Peak behind. Soon they were running over a large, flat expanse of sand that stood between the town and the enormous cacti that gave the island its name.

The Maxim slowly came fully into view as they got closer. It seemed even bigger from up close. The whole ship was crackling ominously with static, small energy charges running in bright flashes around the outside and outlining the golden face.

“He’s charging his weapons systems,” Robin said. “We have to hurry before it’s too late.”

“If we can see them, it’s a sure bet they can see us too,” Zoro yelled over his shoulder. He, Luffy, and Sanji were running in the lead.

Sure enough, the words had hardly left his mouth before several lines were dropped from the hovering ship ahead, and members of Eneru’s army began to swing down to the ground. Boots hit the sand, and then they were running towards the pirates. 

Robin had had no idea that he had gained so many followers. The enemies fell upon them in wave after wave, making up for what they lacked in combat skill with sheer numbers. Thankfully, her crew proved equal to the task. It seemed their training on Nelia was paying off. They moved seamlessly now, as a team should. 

Progress was slow. It seemed that there would never be an end to dodging blows and skidding through sand, but suddenly there were no more foot soldiers running wildly towards them, and they could look up and see the ship again. It was almost directly above them, some of the soldiers’ ropes still dangling down from the dark opening in the hull. 

“Look,” Nami panted, “there’s still a few left.”

Waiting for them, barring their progress forward, stood seven winged figures. Robin frowned. Her instincts were telling her that these men were of a different caliber than those that had come before them. And that was a problem, because they absolutely could not afford to be delayed any more.

“We’re going to split up,” she instructed. “Franky, I want you to go ahead with Luffy. See if you can sabotage the ship or at least make sure the weapon won’t go off. Luffy, we’re trusting you.”

“You got it captain!” Franky shouted. He gestured to Luffy, then put on a burst of speed. They fell in behind and sprinted off at an angle, aiming to pass Eneru’s men on the side.

One of their opponents started to move to intercept, but a well-placed shot from Usopp’s slingshot forced him to turn his attention back to the rest of the crew. Robin watched long enough to make sure Franky and Luffy successfully broke away, and then she too turned her attentions to the opponents at hand. 

Her crew spread out of their own accord, matching the enemy man for man, one on one. For a moment everyone stood still, waiting for someone else to move first. Suddenly, the largest man on Eneru’s side raised a hand and let out a shout, signaling his men forward.

 

Zoro’s blades whirled into the space between sides and met with a long lance, producing a jarringly metallic sound that rang out harshly in the still air. The man holding the lance wore an aviator’s cap and a suit trimmed with fur, even in the desert heat. He had a spiky little moustache that Zoro thought looked ridiculous. 

He grinned at Zoro above their crossed weapons, and Zoro’s internal alarms all went off at once. A confident smile like that can only mean one thing during a fight. 

He jumped back just in time to avoid a burst of flame that flared from the tip of his enemy’s lance. The heat washed over him in a wave, but he stood his ground, waiting for an opportunity to make a move.

“That all you got?” he called, taunting, looking for a reaction.

“Not by a long shot,” the stranger answered. “You aren’t going to get anywhere near My Lord!”

“We’ll just see about that,” Zoro said. He lunged forward again, twisting through the black smoke left by the lance, swords flashing in the sun.

 

Nearby, Usopp was staring down the man he was to fight. His enemy had a strange candelabra hairstyle and a blank stare. Altogether his appearance wasn’t very intimidating, but Usopp was terrified nevertheless. He was quickly discovering that no amount of games was enough to prepare for the shock of facing a deadly enemy in one-on-one combat for the first time. 

He took a deep breath and tried to push the fear down. Captain Robin had believed in him enough to choose him for this crew, and now there were people counting on him. He readied his slingshot, took his aim. But still his opponent did not move.

Usopp was unnerved by his stillness. What did it mean? Was he not taking this seriously? Could it be that he knew what Usopp was thinking???

Another deep breath. He was psyching himself out, and he’d never win if he kept thinking like that. He gathered his courage and fired a shot directly at the enemy… who didn’t even try to doge.

The tall man emerged coughing and spluttering from the resulting cloud of smoke. “I forgot that I was supposed to be fighting!” He exclaimed, looking utterly shocked.

“Huh?” Usopp was more confused than ever. “No, you know what, I don’t even care,” he decided, gathering his courage. “I can beat you, and I will, whether you fight me or not!”

“I don’t think so!” yelled his enemy, and suddenly launched himself into the air.

Usopp’s jaw hung open. He momentarily lost focus, but then shook himself and raised his slingshot again. “I can do this, I can do this,” he chanted under his breath. Carefully, he readjusted his aim and let another shot fly.

 

Brook was locked in combat with the next man in the lineup, a man wearing dark sunglasses who had swirling tattoos running up and down his right arm and wielded a strange weapon that seemed solid as a sword one moment, lithe as a whip the next.

The metal whip was incapable of cutting Brook, but it could momentarily immobilize him, leaving him open to other attacks. His opponent was proving to be a capable martial artist, but Brook hadn’t been idle in his days as a rock star either. He watched the other closely, analyzing his fight style, looking for patterns, blocking attacks and waiting for an opportunity to make a move. 

Eventually he would make a mistake, and a single opportunity was all Brook would need to take him down.

 

Sanji took on the large man, who seemed to be the leader of the group. Despite his size, he was fast and agile. He and Sanji traded blow after blow, cutting and whirling, kicking up plumes of sand. 

Sanji could feel at some level that his opponent was predicting his moves, but he didn’t let it affect his mindset. If his enemy knew what was coming, Sanji reasoned, then all he had to do was attack so powerfully that there was no avoiding it. Move faster, kick harder. 

It seemed that the time to test out the attacks he had learned from his former comrades in the CP9 section had finally come.

 

The last three of Eneru’s men attacked as one, hurling white sphere after white sphere at Robin, Chopper, and Nami. The pirates found out pretty quickly that many of them contained seemingly random items that ranged from bunches of flowers to small explosives or poisoned darts. 

“Nami, I need you to shoot as many of those things out of the air as you possibly can,” Robin said, pointing. Nami nodded and immediately raised her twin pistols, firing rapidly.

“Chopper,” Robin continued, “you’ll need to deal with whatever ones that make it past her, keep them away from me so I can use my powers to bring them down. Can you do that for me?”

Chopper was panting heavily. The exertions of running and fighting combined with the heat were starting to take a tole on him. “I can do it, captain,” he assured her, shifting his shape and turning towards the onslaught of colorless spheres. 

Robin moved so that she had a clear view of their opponents and concentrated. While their hands were full, she created precisely placed legs that kicked at the back of their knees, hands that grabbed at their ankles and set them off balance. 

Two of them staggered and went down, but the last one somehow managed to remain standing. He snarled and picked up another sphere, but before he had a chance to throw it, a well-placed shot from Nami hit it dead on. It exploded in his hands and he too hit the ground.

Robin breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat and dust out of her eyes. She looked around properly for the first time since the individual battles had begun, readying herself to rush to the aid of any of her crewmembers that needed her.

However, the sentiment seemed to be completely unnecessary. As she watched, Sanji dealt the finishing blow to his opponent (was his leg on fire?), and with that, it was all over. All seven of Eneru’s men had been defeated.

“Is everyone ok?” she called across the impromptu battlefield. One by one they all responded. She was even more relieved to find that they were all unharmed. Usopp looked shaken, and Chopper was still winded, but no one was seriously hurt. Zoro and Brook sheathed their swords, Nami holstered her pistols. They all turned to look at the Maxim, which was still hovering high in the air above their heads. 

Robin activated her portable den den mushi. “Franky,” she said, “do you read me? Franky, you’ve got to tell us what’s going on up there. Repeat, what’s happening aboard the ship?”

 

Franky was running as fast as he could through cramped interior maintenance corridors, trying not to hit his head on the exposed pipes and knobs sticking out of the walls. Robin’s voice, somewhat muffled, sounded again from the small den den mushi he had left inside his pants pocket.

“Working on it, captain,” he yelled. Whether or not she could actually hear him was questionable, but he was in something of a hurry. The ship was utterly deserted, which was kinda nice, but also meant that there was no one Franky could interrogate to find out where the main power source was. He was relying solely on his own mechanical intuition to find his way. What he’d do if he found it, he had no idea.

“What about Luffy?” asked Robin’s voice from his pocket. Guess she could hear him. “Is he still with you?”

“He went up towards the deck,” Franky shouted, taking a corner too fast and bumping an oversized shoulder against the wall. “Oof! Following the electric current, he should be able to find this Eneru guy.”

“Understood,” Robin answered. “We’re clear down here, do you need backup?”

“I don’t think there’s gonna be enough-” he cut off abruptly as he rocketed around yet another corner and found himself in a huge, round room. The largest pipe he’d yet seen aboard the ship led down from the ceiling, feeding directly into an equally large glass globe, which in turn fed into countless smaller pipes that connected power to the rest of the ship. An enormous amount of the pure electric energy that ran the ship was gathered in the globe, blinding to look at, crackling audibly. “Time,” he finished lamely.

“Franky? What happened?”

“Gotta go captain!” Franky yelled, adjusting his sunglasses as he ran into the room. Well, at least he knew what to do to sabotage the ship now- all he had to do was break the glass. If the energy wasn’t concentrated, the ship wouldn’t be able to function properly!

There was just one problem with that. He’d be electrocuted if the energy was released with him in the room. Alright then, he’d just have to make sure that he wasn’t in the room when it blew. Minor setback, nothing to worry about right?

He approached the globe and got a good look at the glass. It was really thick, probably twice as thick as he’d been expecting. Where did anyone even find glass like that? He wasn’t sure that one blast from the guns built into his knuckles would be enough to break it.

He hoped that Luffy was having better luck than he was.

 

Luffy followed the trail of sparks, just like Franky told him too, and they led him up through the ship, through a hatch onto the deck. Eneru was really there, a long golden staff in one hand, a staticky aura of electricity blurring his outline slightly.

He whirled around sharply as Luffy climbed through the hatch, a look of surprise on his face. “You can’t be here!” he snapped.

Luffy snorted. “Like I’m going to leave just like that. You can’t destroy a whole island just because they don’t like you. So I’m here to stop you,” he announced confidently, pounding his fist against his palm for emphasis.

Without a word, Eneru raised his arm and fired a bolt of lightning right at Luffy. Luffy didn’t attempt to move out of the way, and it struck him squarely in the chest. Just as Robin had theorized would happen, he felt no more than a slight tingle, and then it was gone. “Won’t work on me! I’m a rubber man,” he shouted, spreading his arms wide, demonstrating how little effect Eneru’s attack had had on him.

Eneru’s face moved from surprised unease to absolute shock. “How can this be happening!” he screeched hysterically. “I am a GOD!” He lunged at Luffy with the staff.

Luffy reached out and caught the staff before it connected. “I don’t care what you are, you still can’t destroy this island,” he said. Before Eneru could respond, Luffy pulled back his arm and punched him right in the face.

 

Robin wasn’t getting a response from either Luffy or Franky, and she was getting worried. “I think I should go up there after all,” she said over her shoulder to Sanji, who had spent the last ten minutes trying to dissuade her from doing exactly that.

“Wait, look!” Usopp yelled, pointing. Robin spun back around, just in time to see an explosion blow a hole through a section of the aft hull, releasing a dark plume of smoke. Amazingly enough, Franky, just barely visible from where they were standing, came flying out of the newly-created breach. 

Seconds later, a huge spasm of electrical lightning rocked the entire ship. Dozens of smaller explosions sounded from inside the Maxim as Eneru’s uncontained power raced through the inner workings of the ship, wreaking havoc with the sensitive systems. More smoke filled the air. The ark began to list to the side, and then slowly, as if in slow motion, it began to lose altitude.

Franky was using one of his numerous modifications to slow his descent, but he was barely in control of his movement, and he hit the sand hard a few lengths from the rest of his crew.

“Hey, you ok?” shouted Nami as they rushed over to where he had landed.

“Ouch,” he said groggily, but he managed to regain his feet and give them a soot-singed grin. “How about that, huh?”

“Yes yes, job well done, but has anyone considered what’s going to happen when that monstrosity touches down?” asked Zoro, eyeing the Maxim’s slow fall. 

“What about-” Chopper started to say, but he was interrupted by a loud call from above.

“Oi!” yelled Luffy’s voice from above them. “Everyone out of the waaaay!”

They scattered, giving Luffy enough room to land far more successfully than Franky had. He had one arm wrapped a couple of times around Eneru’s prone figure, and there wasn’t even a scratch on the young pirate.

“Nishishi,” he laughed in his particular fashion. “No trouble at all.”

“That’s great Luffy but I think Zoro was right,” Nami said, pointing back the way they had come. “We need to run, now!”

They did run, faster and harder even than the first time they had crossed the desert earlier that day. Even at full speed however, they only made it about halfway back before the explosion.

The electrically charged shockwave hit them hard, blowing them one and all off their feet. They were strewn like ragdolls over the sand, and there they lay for some time, buffeted by aftershocks they could feel all the way down to their bones.

Eventually Sanji sat up and brushed the sand out of his hair. Behind them, the desert was a scorched and scarred mess of debris. But ahead of them, Whiskey Peak was untouched.

“Captain Robin,” he called wearily, “look at that. We’ve won this one.” 

“Yes,” said Robin. She lay on her back, getting her breath back. But she was smiling. She had been very worried for a while, but at the end of the day, her crew had handled the situation beautifully. They had indeed achieved a great victory out in the desert heat of Cactus Island, and soon the stories would begin to circulate of her and her crew. 

It seemed that things were going according to plan after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I know that this is poorly written, you don't have to tell me that. I'll be the first to admit it! I know I'm bad at writing combat scenes, but I tried my best. I wanted to convey the fact that the priests would be no match for the pirates, especially considering the fact that the latter group have had an extra two years of training than when this occurred in the original plotline. Not to mention that the priests have the disadvantage of fighting on unfamiliar ground, without all their little traps set up. Sorry again, but at least it's over now and we get a break from combat for a while! Thanks for reading!


	8. In Which Old Truths are Revisited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin has two heart-to-hearts conversations, one with Nami and one with Sanji, both of whom began to doubt themselves and their place in the crew.

After the scorching sun and rough sands of Cactus Island’s desert, even the Starscape’s small, overcrowded galley was a welcome change. After returning to their ship, the Songbirds had all gathered together inside and closed the blinds against the bright sunlight, plunging everything into semi darkness. 

Everyone’s skin was red and irritated after having been thrown across the sands by the explosion. Sanji had filled bowls and buckets with cool water and handed out rags, and they all sat down to rub themselves down and ease the sting. For a few minutes there was silence in the galley but for the dripping of water from the rags and the sound of wet cloth against skin.

Finally Nami spoke from where she was sitting on the galley counter. “What will happen to the soldiers?” 

They had turned Eneru’s henchmen over to the local Whiskey Peak authorities. The jail cells were overflowing with them, and more were still coming in from the desert. 

“Those who were forced to join Eneru to spare their lives or the lives of their families will be set free, I imagine,” Robin said. “As for those with wings… I don’t know. It’s out of our hands now anyway.”

“What about the others, captain? The ones we fought with?” Chopper asked. He was sitting on the table, a damp cloth draped over his head, helping Franky scrub his mechanical arms clean. 

“I don’t know, Chopper.” She sighed. “Those men really believed they were doing the right thing by helping him, but that doesn’t change the fact that they hurt a lot of people. They’ll probably be convicted of crimes against the people by the government.”

Sanji glanced over at her. “Captain,” he said hesitantly, “why can’t we just hand Eneru over to the government as well? Why hold him prisoner here?”

Robin glanced down involuntarily, down towards where the Thundergod was tied up unconscious in their hold. “We can’t do that. The whole reason that we decided to do this in the first place was so that we wouldn’t affect the political situation between any of the powerful parties out there, and like it or not that includes the government. Everyone out there needs to know that an independent party was the one to take Eneru out. Otherwise we’d just be inciting a war.”

“But Eneru wasn’t involved with any of those other sides. It wouldn’t-”

“I’m sorry Sanji, I know how you feel about this but we simply can’t afford to take that chance.”

Zoro eyed the young marine from where he was stretched out on the floor by the door. “Plus, the government would just kill him anyway.”

Sanji blinked in surprise. “What? No they wouldn’t. First he’d have a trial, and once he was sentenced he’d go to prison. There hasn’t been a government execution in decades.”

“That’s what they want you to think, because that’s what you want to believe. But it’s not true.” He ran his fingers absently up and down the length of one of his scabbards. “I did work for them occasionally. In recent years, they’ve brought the idea of killing prisoners back, just kept it quiet. A few were executed as soon as I brought them in, without any kind of trial whatsoever. I saw it.”

Sanji was stunned momentarily. “You’re lying. There’s no way they’d do something like that! They- we- don’t kill. What kind of barbarians do you take us for?”

“I know what I saw, marine. Whether or not you believe me isn’t my business.”

“Why you lying, marimo-looking scumbag-”

“What did you just call me?!”

“Enough!” Nami shrieked. Robin, who had been on the verge of speaking up herself, turned in surprise to look at her. Nami’s face was red and she looked as if she was holding back tears. 

She stood abruptly and crossed the length of the galley in a few steps, wrenched open the door, and stormed out without saying another word. The door slammed behind her, leaving them all in shocked silence.

“Way to go, guys,” said Usopp wearily, “I think you upset her.”

Robin also stood up from the table, putting her rag down beside her bowl of water. “We all need some time to cool off, I think. Let’s take advantage of being here for the rest of the day, and set sail tomorrow, agreed?”

She made eye contact with each of them, silently warning them against arguing further. No one did. “That’s settled then. You’re on free time. Be back here first thing in the morning, and behave. Other than that, what you do is up to you.”

She left the galley and went in search of Nami.

 

She found her in the small cabin room they shared, laying in the top bunk and just staring at the ceiling. “Nami? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” She paused, still focused intently on the patterns in the wood above her. Then she said, very quietly, “I’m sorry for yelling, captain.”

“It’s alright. I’m not upset with you or anything. Do you want to talk about it?”

Nami was quiet for so long that Robin began to think that she wasn’t going to get an answer at all. But just as she was about to turn and leave the room, Nami sat up and looked down at her.

“No, I really don’t want to talk about it,” she told Robin cautiously, “but I do think you should know. About me. About what I did.”

Robin raised an eyebrow, curiosity piqued. She moved over and sat down on her own bunk, patting the space next to her, indicating she wished Nami to sit next to her.

The younger woman dropped down from the upper bunk and took the invitation, sitting down next to her captain. She looked once again like she was on the verge of tears. 

“I killed someone once,” she whispered, staring at her hands clasped in her lap. “It was mostly an accident but… also kind of on purpose.”

That was news to Robin. She had done extensive research on each of her crew members before contacting them. Nami was a cat burglar and an ex-pirate, but she was barely eighteen. It was hard to imagine her plotting a murder. 

“Hold on,” she said as it began to dawn on her, “it was Arlong, wasn’t it? Your former captain. There wasn’t any information on his death in my intel. You killed him?”

Nami nodded. Some of her vibrant orange hair fell across her face, hiding her expression from Robin. “Tell me,” Robin encouraged her gently.

“Arlong was a terrible man. He attacked my home island and claimed it as his territory. He killed… my mom. I joined his crew in the first place because he told me that I could buy back my island if I saved up enough money.

“But eventually I realized that he never intended to honor that deal. He was just using me. So I set a trap for him. I wanted to catch him and threaten him, scare him, make him give me what I wanted.” She laughed mirthlessly. “I should have realized that that was a stupid idea, but at the time I was just so convinced that I could do it…Anyway. Something went wrong. He died. I killed him.”

Robin could hear the pain in Nami’s voice, and decided not to press her for the details. “It wasn’t your fault, Nami,” she said instead. “He isn’t worthy of your guilt, anyway. You need to let it go.”

Nami raised her face and looked Robin in they eye. “You’re right,” she said quaveringly. “I know that you’re right. Arlong was a bastard and he had it coming, but...still…” she sniffed and determinedly blinked away tears. “That doesn’t change the fact that I killed him. Or the fact that everyone on my home island still thinks that I betrayed them. Or the fact that I’ve had to live off w-what I could steal for the past few years.”

She was really crying now, tears of anger and frustration, but she refused to acknowledge it. “I really wanted to put that behind me. You gave me a chance, and I thought I could do it, but now I’m not sure. I’m not sure I can belong here, with the rest of this crew. Especially if that fucking merc keeps looking down on me for being a thief and that marine keeps looking at me like, like he pities me, for crying out loud! I don’t need that, captain,” she jabbed a finger accusingly towards the door.

“Nami,” Robin said, as soothingly as she could, “you are a good person. It doesn’t matter that circumstances have made you a thief in the past, nothing will change that. You are good, Nami,” she insisted, seeing doubt in the other’s eyes. “I learned all I could about you before I sent you that message, and I wouldn’t have contacted you if I weren’t absolutely sure that you were a good person at heart. The same goes for Zoro and Sanji. Sometimes it’s hard to see, but everyone here is a good person. I promise you that.”

Nami sniffed loudly and pressed her hands to her face. “Thank you, captain. I’m sorry for freaking out. I’ll be ok.”

Robin smiled warmly at her. “You have nothing to apologize for.” She stood and made to leave the room, but paused in the doorway. “Nami,” she said, “I won’t ever ask you to kill anyone. You know that don’t you?”

Nami wiped her eyes. “I know. And I appreciate it. But,” she added seriously, “if that’s what it takes to save the world, I’ll do it captain. You can count on me.”

Robin nodded. She knew it was true. She herself had had a similar breakdown the first time she had killed a man, but she had overcome it. Nami was strong. She’d come out of this stronger than ever, of that Robin had no doubt.

 

Sanji was alone on the deck when she emerged from belowdecks. He was leaning against the railing, his gaze unfocused, his brow furrowed in thought.

Robin approached and, when he didn’t say anything, simply stood next to him. She rested her elbows on the wooden railing and they spent a few moments in silence, just watching the sea moving behind them.

“Permission to smoke, captain?” asked Sanji quietly after a while. His eyes were a little bit red, and Robin wondered if he’d been getting enough sleep since their journey began.

“This isn’t the military, Sanji. I don’t care if you smoke, you don’t have to ask me.”

He nodded slightly and, without looking at her, reached into his pocket for a cigarette. Even when he wasn’t wearing his marine uniform, he still dressed very professionally. Something about the way he carried himself, stiffly and almost proudly, made the differences between him and the other members of the crew instantly obvious. 

“Don’t let what Zoro said get to you,” she told him. “In his own way, he was trying to look out for us. He’s a good man.” Robin was pretty sure that Zoro hadn’t wanted Sanji to have to find out the truth the hard way, and had in fact intended to protect Sanji in a sense, but she kept that part to herself.

“I’ve never met a mercenary that I would describe as a good man before, and Roronoa Zoro is no exception,” Sanji scoffed. 

Robin sighed. What had happened to getting along? Suddenly all her crew members were angry with one another all over again.

“What about pirates, hm? Were you also led to believe that no pirate could be a good man?”

He glanced at her for the first time since she had approached, but quickly looked away again. “I’ve heard it said, yes.”

“I used to be a pirate. Afterwards I was a revolutionary, which I’m sure the government would tell you is worse. Nami was once a pirate, later a thief. Franky is a small-time mob boss. Luffy and his brother Ace have sailed under black flags since they were just children. Brook lived and died a pirate before he was forced to leave the sea. Sanji, you’ve lived and worked with them for weeks now; can you truly say that you believe them to be bad people?”

He angrily blew out a smoky breath. “I don’t know. I don’t really know anything anymore.”

Robin rested her chin in her hand. A stray sea breeze fluttered through their hair and whisked Sanji’s cigarette smoke away. 

“You were mentored by Aokiji, isn’t that right?” she asked him.

This time when he looked at her, startled by the unexpected question, he didn’t look away. “Yes, I was. He… found me. First brought me to base. Taught me how to fight.”

“How old were you when he found you?”

“I was eight.”

She chuckled. “I first met Aokiji when I was eight, too. That was over twenty years ago now.”

Sanji hesitated. “Captain, you once mentioned that he saved your life.”

She looked at Sanji closely. His bright eyes were focused intently on her face. “He did,” she said very quietly. “When my hometown was burning down around me and the marines were searching for me, hunting me down like an animal, he found me. Just like he found you. And he let me go.”

Robin looked back out over the waters, brushing her windswept hair away from her face. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about her distant past in quite a long time. “I’ve done some bad things in my time, Sanji. Out of all our crew members, I probably have the most sins to my name. But even so, when I told Aokiji what I was planning, he didn’t tell anyone. He didn’t try to hunt me down and stop me, even though what we plan to do may affect him personally. He trusted me. He even offered to help us; he sent us you.

“You aren’t obligated to remain with this crew if you don’t want to, Sanji. I can’t force you. But before you decide, I want you to consider that.”

Sanji said nothing for a time. His cigarette burned away beneath his fingers, leaving only ashes behind, but he didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

Eventually he flicked the cigarette stub into the water and turned to her, habitually straightening his spine and standing tall. “No need for consideration, captain. I am at your disposal. I trust your judgement,” he said determinedly. 

Robin smiled. That was exactly what she had hoped to hear. With any luck, she could salvage her crew yet. “Thank you, Sanji. I appreciate it. Now, go on and enjoy your free day in the town. It would be a waste to spend it here.”

“But the prisoner-”

“Don’t you worry about him, I’ll be here watching him. Go on now, I mean it! You’ve earned it.”

He tentatively returned her smile. Then he walked away, heading for the gangplank, leaving her alone on the deck. 

Robin took a long, slow breath. She felt exhausted. At the moment, she’d have liked nothing more than to take some time to herself and relax, but she couldn’t. Not yet. There was work to be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been real busy lately, but I finally got this chapter done. I think that's enough of an interlude, time to start building up to the next action part. I'm trying to think of an excuse to bring the other Worst Generation guys into it somehow, just so you know. Might not happen anytime soon, but I'm thinking about it. Hope you enjoyed this little journey down memory lane, and as always, thanks for reading!


	9. In Which Decisions Are Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin interrogates (or at least tries to interrogate) Eneru. Then she must decide what her next move will be.

The Starscape’s hold was several floors below the deck. There was very little light or warmth down there, and despite the crew’s best efforts, an unpleasant, moldy smell lingered in the wood.

Robin had only been in the hold once, and she had taken an instant disliking to it. When she had been about ten years old, she had once been forced to resort to stowing away aboard a pirate ship in order to get to the next island on the Line. She had spent almost a week in a dark, dingy hold much like this one, surviving on very little food and water, always afraid that someone would catch her. 

Even now, she could still feel the echoes of that terror as she descended the ladder. She left the above trap door open, letting in as much light as possible, reminding herself to breathe slowly, to maintain control of herself.

Zoro had securely bound Eneru’s hands and feet, and Franky had produced a large tub from somewhere. They had filled the tub with water and left their prisoner submerged in it, unable to use his powers to free himself.

Although, Robin discovered as she approached and got a good look at him, their precautions might not even have been necessary. The Thundergod was awake, but his eyes were wide and unfocused. He looked even paler than normal, although that might have been because of the water. When he noticed her moving towards him, he shrank back from her and cowered in fear.

“Eneru,” Robin said as firmly as she could manage, “you have been beaten. Your army is no more. It would be wise to answer my questions. Do you understand?”

“Let me go,” he said, surprising her. His voice was weak and shaky, but the words were clearly intended as a command. “Get me away from this...this water. I can’t be here, do you understand me? You will let me go,” he insisted again when she didn’t respond.

Robin was careful not to let any emotion show on her face. “I know perfectly well what water does to a devil fruit user, Eneru. You’re in there because we cannot allow you to use your powers to hurt anyone else.”

“I must get out of here,” he muttered, no longer looking at her. He feebly shuffled his bound wrists. “I was…wrong to come here. I don’t- how could that be? I was…?” 

For a moment he sat in silence, staring at the calm surface of the water in the tub. Robin was rapidly beginning to suspect that Eneru had not maintained all of his sanity, if he’d even been totally sane to begin with. 

Suddenly he jerked his head up and looked her right in the eye. She flinched involuntarily in surprise, but he seemed not to notice. “This is a godless place,” he whispered.

“If I let you go,” she said, tentatively stepping closer, “where would you go?”

“Go...Need to go away from the blue seas. The water. It is godless, it is damned.”

“Where could you possibly go that there wouldn’t be water?”

His eyes left her face, raised up and stared at the wooden boards of the level above them. “There isn’t any water in God’s country,” he said, as if she should have known better. “In the sky, none of this blue. I need to get back there.”

Robin could hardly believe what she was hearing. A country, in the sky? It didn’t seem possible; and yet he was staring upwards so intently, as if he could almost see it. And it did almost make sense- the strange technologies, the Maxim’s sudden appearance one day as if from nowhere, the wings that no one could quite explain. Eneru’s irrational fear of the water.

She shook her head to clear it. It was an intriguing concept, but she could not allow herself to forget her purpose. And it was clear that she would get nothing useful out of their prisoner.

“You will not be going back,” she told him definitively. “I am going to make sure that you are locked up for your crimes, and that you never harm another person as long as you live.”

He seemed confused and upset by her words. “But…I am your God. You can’t do that, you must let me go!”

“You are no god, Eneru. You are as human as I. And I have nothing more to say to you.”

As she turned to leave, something snapped in Eneru. He snarled and tried to lunge after her, but only succeeded in splashing water everywhere. 

“Filthy heathen!” he screamed at her as she started reascending the ladder. “Obey God’s will! You will obey me, or you will suffer the-”

She closed the trapdoor behind her, sharply cutting off his threats. Suddenly she was alone, and there was light again, and her lungs could expand freely. She breathed slowly and deeply, letting go of the fear that had been weighing on her. It scared her a little how close to the surface those old scars really were. She thought she had buried those memories long ago. 

The sun was still high in the sky when she emerged onto the deck. She had given her crew the rest of the day off, and the Starscape appeared deserted. Even Nami seemed to have left the ship. 

Robin took full advantage of having the deck to herself. She retrieved stacks of journals and bundles of papers from her room and spread them out around her, revising her information and planning what course to set when her shipmates returned. 

She found comfort in being surrounded by books, in the smells of drying ink and yellowing parchment. It felt more like home to her than anything else in the world. She busied herself with her work, and slowly the terrors of her childhood faded from her mind.

 

The sun slowly moved across the sky and began to sink beneath the horizon, eventually forcing Robin to light a lamp in order to continue her work. One by one her crew members returned to the ship, like birds coming home to roost for the night.

The time off seemed to have been good for them, she was pleased to see. Sanji returned carrying bags of groceries, telling her excitedly that he’d found some great ingredients on sale. Franky had gotten his mechanical parts cleaned and overhauled, until no evidence of the damage done during the battle remained. Brook seemed to have spent most of his time hiding from fans that thought they recognized him, but he also didn’t seem upset about it. Chopper had gone shopping for medical supplies and books. Luffy and Usopp had somehow become involved in a spontaneous three-legged racing tournament, and had won. 

Robin was worried that Nami would still be upset, but by the time she did return, she acted like nothing had happened. She even smiled warmly at Sanji when he offered her a late snack, making him blush. When asked what she had done in Whiskey Peak, she merely smirked mischievously and made an offhand comment about men refusing to believe a woman could possibly be any good at poker.

Zoro was the last to arrive back at the ship, long after the sun had set. Robin had half expected him to stay out all night; he was used to working alone, after all. 

He looked mildly surprised to see that she was still awake. “Captain,” he muttered, nodding in acknowledgment but not quite looking her in the eye. 

Out of all her crew, Robin found Zoro the hardest to read. She had no idea what he was thinking, and it troubled her. Somehow she figured he wouldn’t be as inclined as Nami or Sanji to open up to her. 

“Welcome back,” she said. “You must be hungry. There’s food in the galley, if you’d like.”

He nodded again and wordlessly headed in that direction, as she’d hoped he’d do. The door opened and then closed again, meaning he’d gone in. Meaning he was in there with Sanji.

The temptation to eavesdrop on their conversation was ridiculously strong. But a responsible adult doesn’t eavesdrop, and Robin was trying really hard to be a better adult recently. If she didn’t do it, no one on the ship would, and then where would they be?

Zoro left the galley a few minutes later, and Sanji followed shortly after that. Neither of them said anything to her. Robin sighed and closed the open book in front of her. She hoped they’d been able to come to an agreement. This wasn’t something she could do for them, something she could magically fix. They had to do it themselves, and all she could do was to sit back and leave them to it.

It was fully dark by then, the moon rising in the distance. The stars as seen from Cactus Island were beautiful. Each time she sailed away from Nelia and left the jungle canopies behind, she was reminded anew of how many there really were. 

Who knew what else was out there, just out of sight? Perhaps Eneru’s people really did live in the sky. The historian in her was dying to find out more, but the larger part of her was just tired. It seemed that everything they’d been through lately was beginning to catch up to her. 

She packed up and went back to the cabin she shared with Nami, who was already asleep in her top bunk. Soon Robin was also asleep, and for once she slept soundly, a newfound sense of security and pure physical exhaustion keeping the nightmares at bay for the night.

 

Eating breakfast at the round table in the galley was rapidly becoming routine for all of them. Sanji gracefully accepted his role as ship’s chef, constantly moving between the table and the counter, removing empty plates and handing out fresh ones. 

Robin was pleased to see some sense of normalcy return to the crew. Even Zoro had dropped his hostile act, at least for the moment. 

“So,” Luffy said, his mouth full of food as usual, “where to next? Are we leaving the lightning guy here, or with the marines after all, or what?”

“No, we won’t be leaving him with anyone. The revolutionary army keeps an isolated prison on a relatively close island; we’ll be bringing him there.”

Franky raised an eyebrow. “I thought we didn’t want to take anyone’s side.”

“I never said I was going to tell Dragon about it, I just said we were going to do it. The warden owes me a favor, anyway.”

“Who will be our next target, after the Thundergod is safely behind bars?” asked Brook, somehow managing to sip tea politely despite not having any lips. 

“I think we shall go to Alabasta, and see what may be done about the situation there for Kohza and his people.”

“Lord Crocodile, right?” said Nami sarcastically. “He’s had control of that island forever. This is gonna be a lot harder than defeating Eneru.”

“I’ve looked into the situation, and I’m almost certain that Crocodile is playing something foul. The drought there is beginning to seem unnatural, and the people are suffering greatly because of it.”

“Wait, another desert island? Seriously?!”

Robin grinned at Chopper. “Sorry doctor, I don’t have any climate-changing powers.” She looked back up, her face becoming serious again. “We set out on this mission in order to help people, and so that is what we shall do. Can I count on you all to help me free Alabasta?”

A strong chorus of “yes, ma’am’s” answered her, and she smiled again. 

“In that case, let’s get going. I want us underway as soon as possible.”

They stirred to action, hastily finishing their food and hurrying off to their positions. It was like there had never been a fight. Robin was beginning to realize that this crew wasn’t like any other she had ever been a part of, but she was also beginning to understand that that wasn't’ necessarily a bad thing. Most of them were very young, and their moods could change like tides. But in the end, they were a team now, no matter what, and she really could count on them. More than that, she could truly be herself around them.

She hadn’t felt that way in a long time. It felt good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of the drama within the crew, at least for a little while. Also, we're starting a new arc! Who here remembers Alabasta??? I've got some surprising twists in mind, and I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am!


	10. In Which a Lot of Training Takes Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Eneru is safely incarcerated, the Songbirds continue on their journey towards Alabasta. While en route, they take the opportunity to do a little personalized training for the upcoming battles.

“Hey everybody, it’s here!” Nami shouted, waving a newspaper above her head. 

The Songbird pirates hurried to gather around her, excitedly peering at the paper, eager to see the results of their work.

They had left Cactus Island behind a few days ago, having accomplished all they’d intended to do there. Many of the residents of Whiskey Peak had come to see them off, and in fact, the mayor had even offered them a reward for their saving their town. 

“It’s not much,” he’d said, “but I hope you’ll accept it nevertheless.”

Robin had graciously agreed, much to her crew’s delight. “I was beginning to think that you were lying to us about getting paid for this job,” Zoro told her. 

Luffy had wanted to stay a bit longer and celebrate with everyone, but Robin had put her foot down on that one. After her conversation with Eneru, she felt nervous having him on board and wanted him gone as soon as possible. 

And so they had left and journeyed to one of Dragon’s numerous hidden prisons. They had delivered Eneru to some very surprised guards, and watched as he was secured in a cell that had bars lined with sea-stone.

While they were there, Robin had used her revolutionary connections to pull a few strings. She made sure that their information would be given to the right people, and that the story of their victory over Eneru would be spread.

Now, finally, the News Coo had found them en route to Alabasta. As it turned out, their adventures had made the front page. 

Also as it turned out, the government was upset with them. Robin had taken care to ensure that it was known that they were an independent group, in no way affiliated with any outside influences. Stating it so publicly was also somewhat intended as a veiled insult; an insinuation that they had only been forced to take matters into their own hands because those same outside influences had failed to do so.

“Wow, I’ve never had a bounty on my head before,” said Usopp. “It’s kinda scary, isn’t it?”

“Naaah, not really,” Franky said. “You’ll get used to it in no time. It really just means that the marines are gonna be familiar with you as an unfriendly face, that’s all.”

“They won’t attack us, right?” Chopper asked tentatively, standing on tiptoe, trying to read the article accompanying their new wanted posters.

“No, they probably will. But we can take ‘em, no problem.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Sanji echoed absently. He looked slightly shaken. The picture on his wanted poster was cut off, but there was no disguising the white brim of a marine captain’s hat shadowing his eyes. 

“My first bounty was higher than yours,” Zoro told him matter-of-factly. 

“Captain,” Brook piped up, “isn’t it a bad thing that the government is circulating our faces like this? Our enemies will know us now if they see us.”

“Yeah, and this article will tell them all they need to know to fight us,” Nami agreed.

“No, I think we can actually use this to our advantage,” Robin said thoughtfully. “It’s not like they know everything about how we fight just from this article. Maybe we can build up a bunch of rumors that all contradict each other, so no one will know what to expect when we come calling.”

Luffy laughed. “That sounds like fun, captain. I knew joining this crew would be a good idea. I just hope Sabo and Ace and everyone back home sees these,” he added, gesturing to the posters.

Nami raised an eyebrow. “You want your family to see your face above a caption that says, ‘wanted dead or alive’?” 

“Well, yeah. I haven’t been back to the East Blue in years… it lets them know that I still am alive, at least for now. Also I hope my brothers realize how much fun they’ve missed out on by not joining us.”

She blinked. “I guess you’re right,” she said quietly, and Robin knew she was thinking about the people she had left behind on her home island.

“I didn’t think about that,” Usopp said. “My dad actually left home to be a pirate, and I haven’t seen him in a really long time. Maybe he’ll see this. I wonder what he’d think of me.”

Luffy cocked his head to the side. “What’s your dad’s name, Usopp?”

“Hm? It’s Yasopp. Why?”

“Oh, I know him! He’s part of Shanks’ crew. We sailed together for a while. I’ve been trying this whole time to remember why you looked so familiar.”

Usopp’s jaw dropped open. “You know my dad?! Wow that’s… wow. How is he? Did he ever, um, mention me or Mom?”

Robin smiled, watching Luffy’s expressive descriptions of his and Yasopp’s adventures as part of Shanks’ crew light up Usopp’s eyes. She considered telling Luffy about Dragon, for the umpteenth time, but didn’t. Dragon had asked her not to, after all.

Instead she pulled Nami aside. “I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she said, “why the pistols? They don’t seem like a good weapon for a cat burgler.”

“Oh, well there’s no specific reason. I never really used to do any actual fighting, but one day when I was like sixteen Arlong got tired of that and threw one at me. I picked up another one somewhere along the way, just because it seemed more efficient to have two. I’ve also got a dagger in my boot, but I don’t really use it for fighting.”

Robin pursed her lips in thought. “I recruited Usopp to be our sharpshooter, so I’m not sure it’s necessary for you to use those guns as your primary weapons. Also, I’m not sure that they’re a good fit for you anyway. What do you say to trying something new?”

The orange haired thief shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “I’m fine with that. It looks like I’ll be doing a lot more fighting from here on out, anyway.”

“Excellent. Franky,” Robin called, “I have a job for you.”

“Yes, captain?”

“I’d like you to help Nami think about a new weapon for her to use. Something better suited to her combat skills and our objectives.”

“Well, the only weapons I have much experience designing are cannons and lasers, but I’ll give it a shot.”

“Thank you. As for the rest of you, I’d like you to gear up. We’ve still got a few days’ journey from here to Alabasta, and I’d like to do some training before we arrive.”

 

Robin had put a lot of thought into how she could help her crew become better fighters. All of them were at different levels and used different weapons, and it wasn’t like they could play capture the flag on a ship in the middle of the ocean. 

What she had come up with was essentially a complicated schedule that focused on an individual at a time, the rest of the crew helping her to devise a situation that would strengthen their weaknesses. It was hard work, but she figured it would at least be worth a shot.

Brook’s skills were slightly rusty after long years of disuse, but he was actually quite a capable fighter. He was good with a blade, and he even had some unique attacks. But, unfortunately, his fighting style was horribly predictable. 

Robin wanted him to change that, to take more advantage of the situation his devil fruit had left him in. His body was incredibly light, for one thing, and he could move so quietly that he was able to slip past almost anyone entirely unnoticed. Robin thought that these skills may come in handy down the road for infiltration purposes, so that is what she had Brook focus on. 

His training turned out to be a glorified version of hide-and-seek. The crew members stood in various positions around the ship, eyes closed, and Brook did his best to sneak around them without them noticing. Any time that one of them heard him move nearby, they picked up a nearby object and threw it in that general direction, forcing the skeleton man to dodge while also trying to remain totally silent. 

Usopp’s career in the circus had made him incredibly dexterous and flexible. He explained that in the troupe he had travelled with, everyone shared the duties of both performing and working backstage. Next to Franky, he was the most knowledgeable crew member when it came to mechanics. He was also unexpectedly strong, his wiry frame concealing muscles built up over years of hard work.

His sharp-shooting skills were excellent, but that was all that could be said for his fighting capabilities.

Robin oversaw most of Usopp’s training personally. She tested his accuracy with the slingshot by using her powers to create moving targets for him. She guided him through the basics of hand to hand combat. Then they began combining the two, an interesting mix of sparring and target practice. Usopp had a tendency to panic and flail when he felt overwhelmed, but he was improving in leaps and bounds, much to Robin’s satisfaction.

Franky’s design for Nami’s new weapon was stunning, once finished; a silver halberd, simultaneously dangerous and beautiful. Light enough to be maneuvered with ease, long enough to keep her out of range of most conventional weapons. Nami was instantly enamored with it, and in truth she almost looked as if she had been born to wield such a weapon. She made a rather imposing figure with it, despite her size. 

Learning to fight with her new halberd was another matter, however. At first she was clumsy, her steps heavy and her swings wild. She was easily discouraged, and that only made it all worse. Robin assigned Zoro to teach her basic forms, which were very similar to those of swordplay. Zoro wasn’t very happy with that arrangement, and complained loudly to Robin, but eventually he gave up and did as she instructed. In fact, he turned out to be a surprisingly competent teacher, if strict.

Luffy’s particular fighting style was perhaps the most unique Robin had ever come across. He had an impressive mastery of his powers that allowed him to take enemies by surprise. He could easily take on multiple enemies by himself or use his haki to focus on a single enemy.

Robin had thought long and hard about what she could possibly teach Luffy to make him a better fighter, and had eventually given up. The boy had learned to fight under the tutelage of one of the Four Emperors and one of God Roger’s crew.

But if there was one derogatory thing she could say about Luffy, it was that he didn’t work smartly. He seemed to function solely on instinct and impulse; no strategy at all. And strategy, Robin could help with. 

It was exhausting, but the crew managed to create and operate a complicated obstacle course aboard the Starscape designed to force Luffy to use his brain in addition to his fists. The young pirate failed the majority of the challenges on his first several run throughs, taking a beating in the process, but he never once got upset by it. He seemed to view the course as a game, and eventually he was able to beat all the obstacles. Robin was left feeling slightly unsure that he had actually learned the lesson she had intended for him, but she was comforted by the fact that Luffy appeared to be practically indestructible by conventional means.

Chopper, like Usopp, had little combat experience. What he did have was a variety of transformations to choose from, and a special concoction called ‘rumble balls’ that, when he swallowed them, temporarily enhanced his powers. However, he couldn’t maintain that enhanced state for very long.

In an attempt to increase his tolerance, Robin had Chopper use a rumble ball and then she used her powers to create targets for him the same way she had for Usopp. She pushed Chopper to his limits, and then some. Afterwards she would let him rest for a short time before trying again. The reindeer was very dedicated, and Robin admired his perseverance. Even though she’d rather keep him out of the combat as much as possible, it was reassuring to know that their ship’s doctor could also handle a fight. 

Franky presented a bit of a problem. Most of his weapons were incorporated into his body, and it wasn’t exactly practical to practice firing a laser gun while aboard a wooden ship. Robin mostly left him alone with a toolbox and told him to make sure everything was working right. She had seen Franky fight, and she had been mostly satisfied with his performance. 

Sanji was used to a marine’s mindset when it came to fights. Most of his training had been focused on preparing him to face multiple enemies at once, and to keep things as controlled and as short as possible. On the plus side, he had a lot of experience working with a team, but he was accustomed to going all out right from the get-go, which meant that he was seriously lacking in stamina. He was also under equipped to deal with a strong opponent one on one.

Zoro, on the other hand, was almost the exact opposite of Sanji. He was great in single combat, but he was used to concealing his true strength as much as possible. Even Robin didn’t know what he was truly capable of, though she guessed he might be able to rival Luffy and Sanji if he really put his mind to it.

So she decided to kill two birds with one stone by letting Sanji and Zoro spar and hoping that they would each reach some sort of middle ground. 

This turned out to be a mistake.

In hindsight, she was at least partially sure that their fights had had at least some of the desired effect on the two young men, but (predictably enough) they had taken it a bit too far. Zoro had almost chopped the ship clean in half, and Sanji had almost set everything on fire. Multiple times. When they were training, they blocked out pretty much everything but each other, and the rest of the crew was often sent running for the relative safety of their bunks. 

All things considered, the journey to Alabasta was nothing if not eventful. It had also been educational, productive, and rather enjoyable, at least from Robin’s perspective.

The afternoon before the evening they were set to reach the desert island, she called a halt to all activity. The sweaty and exhausted pirates gratefully agreed to a rest. Sanji made them takoyaki and they shared it on the deck for once instead of in the galley, letting the salty sea breeze cool them off. 

“What’s Alabasta like?” Chopper asked.

“It’s hot and dry. And poor,” Nami told him. “No work for a thief around there, unless you wanna hit the palace. And that’d be a big hassle.”

“Franky, don’t forget to stock up on cola when we get there,” Robin reminded the cyborg. “Brook might want to grab some milk, too.”

They stayed out on the deck until the sky began to darken around them. Luffy fell asleep leaning against the railing, and Chopper soon followed suit. 

Robin yawned. She hadn’t realized how tired they all were, after working so hard the past few days. “Everyone should get some rest tonight. Franky and I can dock the ship, and we can save Alabasta in the morning, ok?”

A chorus of agreements answered her, and one by one everyone settled in for the night. Robin and Franky docked the Starscape quickly but securely before saying goodnight and turning in themselves. 

It wasn’t until the next morning that anyone noticed that there was another foreign ship in the port.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooo, who else is here????? Haha I'm not telling you, you'll just have to keep reading! (By the way, before anyone has the chance to ask, Nami has a halberd for the sole reason that I just really love halberds. If I was an anime character, I would want a halberd.)


	11. In Which the Visitor Makes Himself Known

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew is forced to reevaluate their plans due to the presence of an unexpected presence in Alabasta. Nefertari Vivi witnesses a tense conversation and is unable to do anything about it.

“Hey, Nami,” Usopp said sleepily as he sat down at the galley table, “I thought you said everyone here was poor.”

Even though half her head was shaven, Nami somehow still had a severe case of bedhead. “I did,” she mumbled, stifling a yawn. 

“Well there’s a really big ship in the harbor,” he returned, helping himself to some of Sanji’s sausages. “From what you showed us, Captain, it doesn’t seem like Crocodile’s style. I think there might be someone else here.”

“Hm,” said Robin thoughtfully. She hadn’t even glanced around on her way to the galley that morning, not having been fully awake yet herself. “If that’s so, we might have to alter our plans a bit to compensate.”

“Who’d wanna to visit this sand dump?” slurred Zoro. It always took him a ridiculous amount of time to wake fully up. Sometimes Robin wondered if she should be concerned about his sleeping habits.

“I don’t know, but it sure is a fancy-looking ship. Must be someone important,” Usopp answered. 

Robin stood and brought her empty plate to the sink. “I’ll take a look, see if I can identify the owner,” she said, and left the little galley. 

For a moment the rest of the crew sat quietly, each focused on the food in front of them. But then Robin suddenly burst back in, looking agitated. “I’m afraid we have a problem,” she announced, “and we will most definitely need to change our plans immediately.”

“Woah, slow down,” Sanji told her, raising his hands in a calming gesture. “What’s going on? Who does that ship belong to?”

“It’s Doflamingo. Another one of the Seven Warlords is in Alabasta.”

 

Crocodile was sitting on that mock throne of his, smoking one of his huge, smelly cigars. Vivi hated the smell of those cigars. Ever since she’d been promoted to Crocodile’s right hand, she felt like she hadn’t been able to get away from it. His smoke had polluted her clothes, her possessions, even her hair. 

So many times she had fantasised about taking a lit cigar from his mouth and throwing it back in his face or lighting fire to his coat. Realistically, she knew she’d never succeed in such an endeavor, but hey, she could dream, couldn’t she?

“He should have been here by now,” Crocodile grumbled, restlessly tapping the fingers of his good hand against his knee.

In all Vivi’s time at Baroque Works, she had never seen him looking so anxious. He hadn’t told her who they were expecting, and she hadn’t asked, but the curiosity was killing her. Whoever it was could maybe, just maybe, present her with the opportunity she’d been waiting so long for. Crocodile wouldn’t be looking out for betrayal if he was distracted by this visitor.

She’d waited years to be this close to him. Years she had watched her people suffer at Crocodile’s hands, unable to do anything about it. At first all she had wanted was a chance to prove his guilt. But by the time she uncovered the full scope of Crocodile’s crimes, there was no one left to stop him. So she tried to gather up enough evidence to expose him to the marines, so they could come and put an end to his reign. Then he had slaughtered most of the scant Alabastan resistance, driving the rest away into hiding.

The sands had been stained with blood and the bodies left to rot in the sun. Kohza was missing and presumed dead. For that, she was going to kill him. 

It was against everything she had ever been taught growing up. But she no longer cared whether or not she acted within the law. Crocodile deserved no mercy, from her or anyone.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Crocodile sat up a little straighter, and Vivi followed suit, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand. She didn’t want to miss any details.

She had been expecting guards or attendants to enter first, but there were none. A single man entered the chamber, striding assuredly towards them. He was unnaturally tall, easily taller even than Crocodile. He wore a ludicrous pink, feathered coat despite the desert heat and sunglasses despite the gloomy dimness of the room.

“Hey there, Sandman,” the stranger called out. “You look depressing as usual.”

“Doflamingo,” Crocodile acknowledged curtly.

Vivi blinked in surprise. So this was Donquixote Doflamingo? He and his family had been the subjects of whispered rumors at the Reverie for years, but all the adults were always too afraid to discuss the details, so she didn’t know the full story.

The two Warlords were a study in opposites. Where Crocodile was silent and stoic, Doflamingo was loud and almost overly expressive. Where Doflamingo dressed in bright colors that demanded attention, Crocodile wore black, the shining gold of his hook prosthesis his only ornamentation. While they were technically equals in the eyes of the marines, it was clear that Doflamingo considered himself superior. It was equally clear that Crocodile resented him for it.

“Don’t get me wrong here, I love what you’ve done with the place, but I honestly thought you’d have expanded your range by now. What’s wrong, afraid you’ll accidentally take over an island that doesn’t fit your aesthetic?” Doflamingo taunted. 

“Cut the crap,” Crocodile said sharply. “I know you didn’t come all the way here to trade insults Tell me what you really want.”

Doflamingo’s smile widened. “As much as I enjoy these little chats, you’re right. I came on behalf of an ally.”

“I never took you as the type to make alliances.”

“Our relationship is more like a mutually beneficial business partnership.” Doflamingo waved a hand dismissively.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Kaido of the Four Emperors. He and his have been monitoring the situation out there closely, as have I and mine. Surely you can feel it too.”

Crocodile shifted in his seat, brow furrowed. “War,” he said quietly.

“Exactly,” Doflamingo said. “It’s coming, and there’s nothing any of us can do to avoid it. We’re already in this thing, whether we like it or not.”

“So what, you and Kaido are planning to break away from the other Warlords and Emperors? And you want me on your side?”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter to me one way or the other. But it is a very generous offer. Surely you realize that you could never hope to fight us off by yourself.”

Crocodile took a last drag on his cigar before stubbing it out, considering Doflamingo’s proposition. Finally he looked back up and spoke, choosing his words very carefully. 

“Generous as it may be, I’m not inclined to accept your offer.”

Doflamingo’s grin slipped a little. “Have you already made an alliance with someone else?” he demanded, taking a menacing step forward.

“No. I don’t want an alliance with anyone, because I don’t intend to get involved in any damn wars,” Crocodile said. He had started drumming his fingers on his knee again.

“Did you not hear what I just said? You can’t just sit here with your head in the sand. You’re one of the Seven Warlords. You’re going to be targeted by the others.”

“I’ve never done anything to warrant the anger of any of the other powers out there. And I’m not the one with the grudge against the World Nobles. I’m not going to let you just sign me up for a war I don’t want to fight!”

Doflamingo looked angry now. Vivi’s whole body was tensed, ready to reach for her weapons. He actually looked really scary when he was angry. 

But then he took a deep breath and calmed himself down a little. “There’s more to this offer than just a war pact. Will you at least be willing to hear me out?”

Crocodile inclined his head slightly. “Fine.”

“Well, alright then. I’m going to be here for a few days. Tomorrow we can discuss the details, and then you can think it over before giving me your final answer.”

“Agreed. We’ll meet here again, tomorrow.” It was not a question.

“Fine,” Doflamingo echoed. If he was upset by the dismissal, he didn’t show it. He just turned on his heel and walked out the way he had come.

Crocodile watched him go. Only when the last traces of pink were out of sight did he finally relax at all. It was so slight a change that an outside observer wouldn’t have been able to catch it, but Vivi could tell. Doflamingo had set Crocodile on edge, something she had never seen before.

She knew now that her chances to kill him while Doflamingo was in Alabasta were by no means improved. In fact, since he was on guard now, they were probably less than they had been to start off with. It was maddeningly frustrating. 

“I want you here first thing tomorrow,” Crocodile said. He wasn’t looking at her.

“Yes sir,” she answered in a monotone voice. That was how he usually addressed his subordinates. She had thought that maybe something would change after she had been promoted, but nothing had. He treated all the humans around him with utter disdain, no matter what their position.

“He’s dangerous. We need to make sure the others are on alert while he’s here.” Now he actually did look at her. “He’s not to be trusted. Do you understand me?”

“Yes sir,” she said, keeping her face as blank as possible. He looked away again. 

“Go on then,” he said, reaching for another cigar.

She bowed her head and turned to leave. She hated Crocodile, but she had to admit that he had a point. If there was a war brewing, Alabasta couldn’t afford to take any part. What would happen to her people now if they were attacked by a pirate army?

The sun outside was burning as usual, but even so she still felt cold at the thought. 

 

“Wow, this dude sure is ugly,” Usopp said, examining a picture of Doflamingo from Robin’s files.

Luffy looked over his shoulder. “Hmm, I think Eneru was worse.”

“Will you boys please take this a little more seriously?” Nami snapped. “We have a serious problem here! Doflamingo is really dangerous guy. He could kill us all if we screw up.” She took the paper from Usopp and put it back on the deck. “And for the record, he is uglier than Eneru.”

“Ok, ok, let’s think here for a minute,” Sanji said, running his fingers through his hair. He was sitting on the steps that led up to the poop deck, bouncing his leg. It was a sign Robin had come to realize meant he wanted to smoke but didn’t think he was allowed. “The original plan was to sneak around and spy on Crocodile, right?”

“Yes, so we could find out more about him in order to plan a larger attack,” Brook added. 

“Well then, we can just do that like we originally planned,” Zoro said. “We might have to split up, but we can spy on both of them and take out two birds with one stone.”

Robin shook her head. “No, there’s no way we could ever get them both. No matter how stealthy we are, the moment we attack one, the other will know. And we’re sunk the moment they’re aware of our presence.”

“Well then, what do you propose we do, captain?”

“I agree that we need more intel. But I say we need to concentrate our efforts on only one of the Warlords for the time being. Once we’ve accomplished that goal, we can lay low for a while, then go after the other one.”

“I don’t agree with that,” Luffy said. “If we leave, the people of this island will just suffer longer. We can take em, I know we can!”

Robin sighed. “Look Luffy, I know you’re concerned for the Alabastans. I’m concerned for them too. But I need you to trust me on this. It’s simply too dangerous for us. We won’t do any good to anyone if we die.”

“Captain,” said Usopp quickly, before Luffy could speak again, “will you at least wait to make the final decision until we know more about the situation?”

Robin nodded, grateful for the solution. “I promise.”

“Alright then, let’s not waste any more time talking about it,” Franky said. “Let’s get out there and do some spy work!”

“I think I have a map of the island somewhere.” Nami gestured towards the chest of navigational supplies she kept on deck.

“I saw an old crate of leftover revolutionary disguises in the hold,” Chopper chimed in.

“Great,” Robin said. “I think I know how we can get close to our targets. Let’s make this quick, everyone, time is not on our side.”

“Yes, Captain!” they called out, each hurrying to get their equipment together.

Robin looked out across the dry sands of Alabasta. The faintest outline of the castle was just visible in the distance. 

She was starting to second guess her decision to come here. But she was reassured by the thought that if anyone could help the people here, it was her crewmates.

At the very least, they had to try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of trivia for you guys here: Doffy is actually a whole five years younger than Crocodile. Also their heights are 10 feet and 8 feet 3.5 inches respectively. Ya learn something new every day.


	12. In Which Espionage is Undertaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Songbirds split up and attempt to learn more about the key players in Alabasta.

“So,” Zoro said irritatedly, “who else thinks this is a waste of time?”

He, Brook, and Chopper were positioned on a rooftop outside Doflamingo’s hotel. From their vantage point, they could just see up into the Warlord’s room. However, their view was rather limited and thus far nothing interesting had really happened. 

“I mean, we know where he is. Great. Why don’t we just attack him while we have the element of surprise?” Zoro swung one leg lazily back and forth off the edge of the rooftop. “Why is this fool staying in a hotel anyway, when his ship is basically a luxury cruiser with a black flag attached?”

“Captain Robin told us to watch him, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Chopper said wearily. The afternoon heat was already starting to take a toll on the reindeer.

Zoro clicked his tongue. “Yeah yeah, captain knows best, I know. I just don’t think observation is my strong suit is all.”

“If I may ask, Zoro,” Brook said, “why did you agree to join this team in the first place? You don’t seem to care as much as the rest of us about the fate of the Grand Line. No offense meant, of course,” he added hastily.

The green haired mercenary cocked his head slightly, considering the question. His golden earrings glinted in the sun. “Well like I said, work’s been scarce lately,” he answered. “And it’s not that I don’t care about the people or anything like that, it’s just… I don’t know, I guess I’m just used to putting myself first. I’ve tried working with people before, and it’s ended up hurting me every time.”

He twisted around to look at Brook. “Plus, if I’m being completely honest, I thought that Nico Robin and her Quest of Righteousness was the best chance I’d ever get to go up against Mihawk.”

“Who’s that?” Chopper asked curiously.

“He’s another Warlord. And supposedly the best swordfighter currently living. No way the marines would ever hire me again as a merc if I went after Mihawk, but as a pirate I figure I can do what I like. I’m gonna be remembered as the one who defeated that old hasbeen.”

Brook nodded slowly. The bright sunlight of the desert kingdom was causing his exposed bones to shine whiter than normal. “I can respect that,” he said. “You’re a very talented fighter, Zoro. I bet you could take him.”

“Damn straight I could.”

They lapsed back into silence for a time. Then Chopper asked quietly, “what will you do if you fight him and you win? Will you leave the crew?”

Zoro shrugged. “I haven’t given it that much thought, honestly. Maybe.”

“Look,” Brook suddenly exclaimed, “he’s leaving the hotel!”

The bright pink of Doflamingo’s trademark coat was visible on the street several floors below them.

“Finally, something to do,” Zoro said, jumping to his feet. “Let’s go boys!”

He took off across the rooftops, following Doflamingo’s progress silently from above. Brook and Chopper, in his four-legged form, hastened to follow. “Captain, target is on the move,” Brook informed Robin over the den den mushi. “We are now in pursuit, and we’ll let you know where he ends up.”

 

“Understood,” Robin murmured into her own den den mushi.

“What is it?” Sanji hissed nervously. “Did something go wrong with one of the other teams?”

“Calm down, Sanji. Brook was just letting me know that Doflamingo is on the move, that’s all.”

Sanji did not seem to calm down at all. He’d been acting anxious ever since they’d entered this pub, fidgeting with his disguise and looking over his shoulder every few minutes.

“What are we going to do if he shows up here?” 

“Nothing. Our job is to watch them, not Doflamingo.” Robin gestured vaguely in the direction of the large crowd gathered at the other end of the shabby pub.

The crowd was made up of a mixture of agents from Crocodile’s secret organization and the crew Doflamingo had brought with him to Alabasta. They were eating and drinking and just generally making a lot of noise, as groups of pirates are often wont to do. 

Robin had brought one of her books with her, and was keeping detailed notes on everyone and everything she saw. She had also brought along a stack of wanted posters and had assigned Sanji and Luffy to look through them. She had told them that it would help her identify any enemies in Alabasta, but really her true intention had been to keep Luffy occupied so that he wouldn’t do anything to attract too much unwanted attention.

So far, it was working. Luffy seemed to be taking his task seriously, studying each poster in his stack intently and comparing the picture to the rowdy group in the pub. 

“I really don’t like the idea of being in here with Doflamingo,” Sanji said restlessly. “That dude is bad news. Whenever he shows up to a marine base, he always leaves dead bodies in his wake.”

“Found another one!” Luffy announced triumphantly, handing Robin a poster. He had traded his straw hat temporarily for a turban that made his head look several sizes too big. “Oi Sanji, you shouldn’t worry so much. Robin’s got this situation under control, don’t you Captain?”

“Mm-hm,” Robin muttered absently, studying the poster Luffy had handed her. 

“You do know that he killed his own family, right? I’m telling you this is a bad idea.”

Robin set the poster aside and looked up. “Sanji, could it be that you’re just uncomfortable with the idea of us confronting a Warlord? An ally of the marines?”

Sanji shrugged, fiddling with the papers in front of him. “Maybe a little.”

Luffy cocked his head. One could almost see the gears of his mind turning. “I thought you just said that you didn’t like this guy because he killed people. Now you’re saying you don’t want us to attack him?”

“I don’t know, it’s just…” Sanji sighed. “This whole pirate thing is new to me. I’m not used to breaking the law or spying on people or any of this, really.” He glanced over his shoulder again. “I guess what’s really bugging me is the thought that my face is on a wanted poster out there now. Anyone could recognize us and attack us without warning! What’s so funny?”

Luffy and Robin did their bests to stifle their giggles. “Nothing, nothing,” Robin assured Sanji. “It’s just that we’ve never seen this side of you, Sanji.”

“You should be proud that you’re wanted now,” Luffy informed him matter-of-factly. “That means even the government has recognized your skills.”

Sanji blinked. “Well, that’s one way of looking at it, I suppose.”

Robin’s den den mushi chimed an alert. “Hey Captain,” Nami’s voice crackled on the other end, “we think we found a way inside. You want us to investigate?”

“Yes, Nami, but please be careful,” Robin answered. “And keep me posted.”

“Sure thing.” The connection cut off. 

Luffy made an exasperated noise. “Man, I sure wish I was out exploring with one of the other teams. They seem like they’re having more fun than us.”

“You’ll get some action tomorrow,” Robin told him. “In the meantime, do you have another poster for me?”

“Oh yeah. Coming right up, Captain.”

 

“Nami, I’m not so sure this is the best way to go,” Usopp said nervously. 

“Well, what else do you propose we do?” Nami retaliated angrily. She wasn’t too happy about getting stuck on a team with Franky and Usopp. All her thief’s instincts were screaming at her to just ditch them already, but she was convinced that if she left them alone they would definitely find a way to get themselves caught.

“I don’t know, but there’s gotta be a better way than just walking around, hoping we don’t run into anyone,” Usopp said, and Franky nodded.

Nami tried very hard to contain her anger. “Look. There’s no one here. They’re all out at that pub where the Captain is with Luffy and Sanji. Trust me, I’ve got a good feeling about this.”

Neither of her companions looked very convinced. But they followed her nevertheless. 

They had managed to locate a secret entrance to Crocodile’s lair, and were now making their way deeper inside. Nami was memorizing their route as they went, just in case they’d need to know it later. There seemed to be a ridiculous amount of confusing hallways and passageways inside, but as she had anticipated, it was entirely deserted. 

“Is it just me, or do Crocodile’s powers seem kinda, I don’t know, silly?” Usopp mused aloud.

“How do you mean?” Franky asked. “I think sand powers are cool.”

“Well yeah, they’re cool, but they’re nothing like Doflamingo’s, according to Robin’s notes at least. Like, if you had asked me what kind of powers I’d expect a super powerful Warlord to have, I would not have said sand.”

“It doesn’t matter what kind of powers someone has, if they know how to use them effectively,” Nami chimed in. “Just look at Luffy.”

“Hah, well you’re not wrong there,” Usopp chuckled. 

“Hey, hey,” Franky said, “can you guys imagine Luffy as a Warlord?”

“No way!”

They continued on for a while, amusing themselves with the thought of Luffy as an agent of the corrupt World Government. But their amusement was brought to an abrupt end when they turned yet another corner and found themselves face to face with one of Crocodile’s agents.

For a moment, all four of them were frozen in shock. Nami had time to think “so much for entirely deserted,” before the stranger yelled, “halt!” and reached for her weapons. Usopp merely cried out in surprise, but Franky readied his palm gun and Nami had her new halberd out in a flash and pointed at the young woman.

“Uh uh uh, missy,” she warned. “I wouldn’t move if I were you.”

Crocodile’s agent slowly held up her hands, empty. “You three must be fools to have broken in here. You’ll never defeat Crocodile.”

“Thankfully enough, that was not our intention,” Nami said with a smirk. With her free hand, she raised her den den mushi. “Captain, we’re heading back to the ship...and we’re bringing company.”

 

The young woman that Nami’s team brought back with them as a prisoner was very beautiful. She was paler than the average Alabastan, with long, light blue hair and a certain quiet dignity to her. She was also instantly recognizable from Robin’s detailed notes as Ms. All Sunday.

“Well done, you three,” Robin told Nami, Usopp, and Franky. “Well done indeed.”

They had all regrouped back at the ship. Ms. All Sunday was tied up, sitting on the deck surrounded by the crew. 

“Who are you people?” she demanded, quite bravely. “What do you want in Alabasta.”

“We’re the Songbird pirates!” Luffy told her.

“Quiet, Luffy,” Robin instructed him. To the prisoner she just said, “we’re here to help.”

All Sunday blinked. “Wait, I read about you guys in the paper. You took out that crazy lightning guy, didn’t you?”

“That’s right,” Zoro said. “So you know what we’re capable of. If you don’t start talking-”

“No, I’ll talk. Please, hear me out,” the blue haired woman cut him off.

“Well,” Usopp said, “that was easier than expected.” He seemed to have recovered his courage in the presence of his crewmates.

“Please, madam, tell us what you know,” said Sanji, perhaps a little too gracefully.

The prisoner took a deep breath. “The truth is, I’ve been working for Crocodile undercover for the past few years. I want to see him gone just as much as you do. My real name is Princess Nefeltari Vivi. You’ve got to believe me, please.”

There was silence for a moment while everyone took that in. 

“Sounds like bullshit,” Zoro said. “I don’t buy it.”

“What proof do you have?” Robin asked.

All Sunday shook her head. “What do you want, for me to pull a crown out of my pocket? You’ve just got to believe me. Or you know what, don’t, that’s fine too, as long as you help me take Crocodile down. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, just, please. He’s hurt my people. Please help me.”

“Well, I believe her,” Sanji said. 

“Oh come on, really?” Zoro spat contemptuously.

“No, I think she’s telling the truth too,” Robin said. 

Franky too still seemed skeptical. “Are…are you sure Captain?”

“Yes I am.” Robin waved her hand, and an arm appeared at Vivi’s feet to untie her. “Actually, Kohza has told me tales of his friend, Princess Vivi. By all accounts, this girl fits his descriptions.”

Vivi’s eyes widened. “Did you just say Kohza? He’s alive?!”

“Yes, he’s safe with Dragon’s revolutionaries.”

Vivi actually started to cry at Robin’s words. “I can’t b-believe it. He’s alive. Th-thank you,” she stammered, attempting to stem the flow of her tears with the heels of her hands.

“I knew I had a good feeling about breaking in there,” Nami said triumphantly. 

“Princess,” Robin asked gently, “will you tell us what you know about Crocodile? Like I said, we want to help you. We want Kohza and his people to be able to come home.”

Vivi sniffed and took a deep breath, composing herself somewhat. “Yes. I’ll tell you everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of these guys are as good as they'd like to think at this whole spy thing. Seriously, this was just an entire chapter of them chatting and goofing off instead of doing their work. Thanks for reading it anyway!


	13. In Which a Trap is Sprung

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a discussion with Princess Vivi, the Songbirds decide to set a trap and see if they can snare a Warlord of the Sea

The Songbird Pirates spent the next few hours comparing notes with the Alabastan princess. Once she dropped her tough act, Vivi was kind, clever, and diligent. When Sanji offered her some food, she smiled graciously at him, making him blush a brilliant red. Although she was wary and seemed reluctant to completely trust them, she kept her word and told them everything she knew about Crocodile and his organization. 

As it turned out, the scope of Crocodile’s influence and control was far broader than they had originally suspected. Robin hated to admit it, but she was actually impressed by Crocodile’s dedication to achieving total dominance of the island. The intel Vivi provided bespoke cunning and patience that Robin wouldn’t have guessed Crocodile possessed. 

“Vivi, can you tell us anything about Donquixote Doflamingo?” Usopp asked the young woman. “Did he come here to talk to Crocodile?”

“Yes, actually. They met earlier this morning. I was there. Doflamingo is…” she hesitated. “He’s frightening. Even Crocodile is afraid of him, and I’ve never seen him afraid of anything.”

“I think they must have some kind of past connection,” Robin mused. “That would explain why Crocodile’s so nervous around Doflamingo, and why their two groups of subordinates were hanging around in a pub together earlier.”

Vivi nodded. “I guess that would make sense. Anyway, Doflamingo came to try to recruit Crocodile into an alliance between him and Kaido. He thinks war is going to break out.”

Her words were met with an uncomfortable silence. Robin put her face in her hands, trying to block out the desert sunlight enough to let her think clearly.

It was just as she’d feared. If members of the Warlords and the Emperors had started making alliances between themselves, then it was only a matter of time until the war they were bracing for became a reality. 

“What did Croc say?” Nami asked Vivi.

“He hasn’t decided yet. They’re supposed to talk terms tomorrow. But I don’t think he really wants to do it.”

“That’s something, at least.” Franky muttered. “I don’t think we could fight an alliance like that all by ourselves.”

“No, we couldn’t,” Robin said, raising her head once more. She paused, thinking of how to say what she needed to without conveying the wrong message. “Your Highness, we came here to help Alabasta. And I swear to you that we will. But I think we need to be focusing on Doflamingo right now.”

Vivi frowned. “You mean you’ll just let Crocodile get away with what he’s doing here? My people need help now!”

“Your people, as well as everyone else in the Grand Line, will be in a far worse situation if the pirates declare war on the government and on one another. Nine people on a single ship can’t possibly hope to fight Kaido and Doflamingo at the same time. But if we take Doflamingo out of the picture before they have a chance to act…”

“We can avoid all-out combat,” Zoro finished, nodding in agreement. “You’ve gotta admit, that makes more sense.”

“And then we can come back for Crocodile,” Luffy said. “That’s pretty smart, Captain!”

Vivi took a deep breath. “I understand where you’re coming from, Captain Robin. But I know Crocodile, and if anything happens he’ll go to ground and we won’t be able to find him. He’ll still rule Alabasta.”

“We might not be able to find him,” Nami said. “But if we can get through this without breaking your cover, which should be easy enough, you can help us out on that score. Right?”

The princess thought about it for a while, her brow furrowed in thought. She turned to look Robin directly in the eye. “Do you really think you stand a chance against Doflamingo?”

“Yes,” Robin said simply. 

“Alright then.” Vivi drew herself up. “I trust you. I need to get back now, but I’ll contact you sometime tomorrow. After I find out what Crocodile’s going to say to Doflamingo’s offer.”

“Thank you once again for your help,” Brook called after her as she started making her way down the gangplank. Vivi waved at them over her shoulder in acknowledgement, and then she was out of sight. 

“It’s getting late,” Robin said wearily. “The desert can get very cold at night. Everyone should get some sleep, and we’ll start planning in the morning.”

 

Doflamingo was back in Crocodile’s audience chamber the next morning. He strode confidently in, the same as the day before. If he was feeling nervous or uncomfortable, it wasn’t showing on his face or in his body language at all.

“Ready to talk terms, Sandman?”

Crocodile grunted. “I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again, I’m pretty damn sure you don’t have anything I want badly enough to sign up for this,” he said around his cigar.

Doflamingo’s grin widened. “Trust me, you’re going to eat those words. We can offer you some very valuable things, Croc.”

Crocodile raised an eyebrow and took a long drag on his cigar. Then he turned his head slightly towards where Vivi was standing in the shadows behind him and said, “leave us.”

Vivi blinked in surprise. She wanted to protest, to demand that she be allowed to stay and witness their conversation, but she knew better than to make Crocodile ask twice.

Without a word she bowed, turned on her heel, and left the room. Once the door shut behind her, she pressed her ear against it in the hopes of being able to hear something, but there was nothing. She groaned and leaned her forehead against the door in defeat. 

“Captain,” she said into the portable den den mushi the Songbirds had lent her, “we have a problem.”

 

“Yes...yes...ah, I understand.” Robin said. “Thank you, Vivi.” She deactivated the communication device, a troubled look on her face.

“What? What happened?” Usopp asked anxiously. “Is she in trouble?”

“No,no. But she likely won’t be able to find out any more about Doflamingo’s plans. We’re on our own now in that regard.”

They were gathered on the deck once again, Robin’s papers and notes scattered everywhere. The element of surprise was basically the only advantage they held over Doflamingo, and they were trying to come up with a plan that would maximize that advantage.

It was not going well.

“Like I said,” Sanji said irritatedly, “he’ll sense our presences! There’s no way we could get close enough to make that work!”

“And like I said,” Zoro retorted, “it won’t matter if he notices, because by the time he does, we could all attack him at once!”

“Hey!” Robin called, eyeing them sternly. “Focus please, boys. What else have we got?”

“How about we build a big cannon, and then blast him with it?” Usopp suggested.

“No good, he could sense the danger from that too.”

“Oh, what if we set a bunch of wild animals loose on him? You know, as a distraction?”

“Luffy… that doesn’t even make sense.”

“Enough,” Nami said, throwing up her hands. “This is getting us nowhere. There’s only one thing we can do. We have to trap him.”

Robin narrowed her eyes curiously. “Nami, you don’t mean-”

“Yes, I do, Captain.” Nami tossed her orange hair over her shoulder, a determined look on her face. “We’ll use the same trap on Doflamingo that I used on Arlong. Only this time, it’ll work like it’s supposed to.”

“Wait, what?” Sanji looked confused. “This is my first time hearing about this. Waitaminute, did you kill Arlong?!”

“Yes I did, as a matter of fact,” Nami snapped. “But I didn’t mean to. I wanted to trap him, not kill him.”

“Do you wanna share with the rest of the class, or what?” Zoro asked gruffly, but he sounded interested. 

Nami took a deep breath, trying to ignore all the eyes suddenly trained on her. “I poured some oil onto the ground in a circle, and set it up so that whenever he entered the circle, I could trigger a mechanism that dropped a match onto the oil, lighting it on fire. But it burned way more than I expected it too, and...well, some fishmen have a strong fear of fire. He went berserk and tried to jump through the fire and got himself burned.”

There was silence on the deck when she finished speaking, eventually broken by Franky whistling in admiration.

“Shit, Nami, that’s brutal,” Zoro said. “I wouldn’t’a thought you had it in you.” Sanji said nothing, but nodded in agreement. 

“So, you think it’s possible to do this to Doflamingo, without killing him?” Chopper asked.

“It should work, in theory, actually,” Usopp said thoughtfully. “I could trigger the match-dropping thing from a pretty good distance away, and he shouldn’t be able to sense me.”

“But what could we do once we had him in a flaming circle?” Brook wondered.

“Hm,” Robin said, thinking hard. “Doctor Chopper, do you think you could concoct a sedative that would knock Doflamingo out? If we shoot some at him as soon as the flames go up, he should be distracted enough not to notice.”

Chopper nodded. “I could do that, Captain.”

“Fantastic. Then I want you to stay here and do that, while the rest of us get started on this trap. Hopefully, his talk with Crocodile will last long enough that we can get this done today. Come on everyone, let’s get going!”

 

For perhaps the first time since they had began their journey, fortune smiled on the Songbird Pirates. Doflamingo and Crocodile spent hours together, and the little port town was deserted at this time of day. By the time they got word from Vivi that their target was headed their way, everything was ready.

Sanji had provided a different kind of oil, one that he assured Nami was not going to burn out of control. Chopper had filled several syringes with a mildly toxic-looking green liquid, and Franky had loaded it into dart guns. Usopp was stationed on a roof several streets from the trap, with a clear view and clean shot at the mechanism that would activate it. The rest of the crew had taken up positions within the buildings nearest the oil circle, so they wouldn’t be seen before it was their time to act. 

Sure enough, the Warlord soon came into view, walking nonchalantly down the street towards the docks. The pirates were totally silent, waiting tensely for their captain’s signal.

Robin’s heart was beating very fast, knowing that if they failed, they’d be in deep trouble. But they had come too far not to try, so she steeled herself and took a calming breath. 

“On my mark, Usopp,” she whispered into her den den mushi. “Three, two, one...Now!”

Outside their windows, they could see Doflamingo jump back in surprise as the ground in front of him suddenly burst into flame. He whipped around, his ever-present grin disappearing as he realised that the fire was surrounding him.

“Everyone else go, go!” Robin shouted. Her crew kicked down doors and broke through windows, every one of them aiming a dart gun at Doflamingo.

He saw them coming, and tried to dodge out of the way, but there wasn’t enough time for him to dodge all the darts that came at him simultaneously from every side. Out of eight, two found their marks, plunging their sharp points into the pirate lord. 

For a moment, Doflamingo stayed on his feet, and Robin was terrified that the dose hadn’t been enough to take him down. But then he swayed and finally fell crashing to the ground, out cold.

Luffy whooped with joy, and Nami gave a shuddering sigh of relief. Usopp’s voice was jabbering in their ears, demanding to know what happened. Several of the others laughed out loud, still a little high on adrenaline.

Robin simply stood there, breathing deeply. Her heart was still pounding in her ears, and she felt slightly unsteady on her feet. She couldn’t believe they’d done it. 

“Someone cuff him,” she said eventually, when she had got some of her bearings back. “We’ve got to get him back to the ship as soon as we can. And someone call the princess, let her know we did it.”

Sanji produced a pair of sea-stone handcuffs, which they had taken the liberty of bringing with them from the prison they had left Eneru in. Swiftly Doflamingo was secured, and Franky hefted him over his shoulder. 

They made their way back to their ship, still giddy with their victory. But only when their new prisoner was safely locked in the hold did Robin start to relax and allow herself to believe that they had actually done it. 

It had seemed too fast, almost too easy, to be real. But the sight of Doflamingo in chains in the dark hold finally allowed it to sink in. Robin smiled faintly. They had defeated a Warlord, without bloodshed or even much collateral damage. If that wasn’t cause for a proper pirate’s celebration, she didn’t know what was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this chapter moved pretty quickly, didn't it? Wow, I tired myself out just writing it down. Next chapter, be on the lookout for two more guest appearances and some more action. Thanks for reading!


	14. In Which Things Take a Turn for the Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Songbirds have an unexpected visit from two other pirates, who try to convince them to kill their prisoner

“Here we go! I’ve been saving these for a special occasion,” Sanji said, setting two high-class bottles of sake on the galley table. 

The rest of the crew cheered as one of the bottles was cracked open. Zoro muttered a snide remark about how Sanji had been holding out on them, but his heart wasn’t really in it. Everyone was in a remarkably good mood after having captured Doflamingo.

They ate, drank, and talked freely that afternoon, enjoying one of those scarce moments when they could forget their differences and simply be comrades. Robin loved those moments; she loved it when Nami laughed and lost the wary look in her eyes, when Usopp didn’t look scared or afraid, when Zoro or Sanji gave one of their rare smiles. 

About an hour after they had returned to the Starscape with their prisoner, Robin thought she heard something unusual. “Shh, everyone...can you hear that?”

The crew quieted and listened. Sure enough, they became aware of a voice coming from the outside.

“Songbird Pirates,” the voice called out, “we need to talk to you! Is anyone there?”

“You’re not yelling loud enough,” a second voice said. “OI! WE GOTTA TALK TO YOU BASTARDS!”

“Hey, you don’t have to be rude about it.”

Robin opened the little galley window and stuck her head outside. Below, on the docks, stood two men she didn’t know. One of them noticed her and elbowed the other, pointing.

“Hello there,” Robin called down. “Can I help you gentlemen somehow?”

“Captain Nico Robin, I presume,” yelled the shorter of the two. “We’d like to talk to you about your business in Alabasta, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“One moment, and we’ll lower a gangplank.” Robin pulled her head back inside. “Well, it seems we’re about to have guests,” she informed her crew. “Let’s hear what they have to say, shall we?”

Everyone scrambled to put empty dishes in the sink, drain the last of the sake, and leave the galley. The sudden appearance of the strangers had totally killed the celebratory atmosphere; now they all felt tense and guarded again.

Franky and Chopper lowered a plank as promised, and the two men came aboard. Both were dressed for the scorching Alabastan climate, but it was clear that neither of them was a native of the small desert kingdom. 

The shorter, darker man had dark bags under his eyes that somehow did not lessen the sharpness of his gaze. He carried a sword scabbarded at his side, and the exposed skin on his arms was covered in swirling tattoos from shoulder to fingertips. 

His companion was taller, paler, and a little younger. He had a head of flaming red hair and a mechanical left arm. He hadn’t bothered wearing a shirt in the desert sun, leaving the wicked-looking scars on his chest and torso clearly visible. 

“Welcome aboard the Starscape,” Robin told them. “This is my crew,” she added, gesturing around her. Some of the pirates nodded in acknowledgement, but none of them spoke.

The darker, tired-looking stranger stepped forward. “Thank you for meeting with us, Captain Nico. I’m Captian Trafalgar Law, and this is my...colleague…Captain Eustass Kid.”

“‘Sup,” Kid said.

“As I mentioned earlier,” Law continued, “we wanted to ask you what has brought you to Alabasta.”

Robin raised an eyebrow. “We are here on behalf of an old friend,” she said carefully, not wanting to lie, but also not seeing a reason to be completely honest with their guests. “I could ask you the same question, Captain Law.”

Law’s eyes narrowed just a fraction. “I’ll be completely honest with you, Nico, and I ask that you do me the same favor. We’re here because we followed Donquixote Doflamingo here. And given your recent dealings with the so-called Thundergod, it only stands to reason that we suspect you have similar motivations.”

A ripple of unease swept through the Songbirds. Zoro put a hand on the hilt of one of his swords, and Franky took a warning step forward. “Captain?” Usopp asked nervously.

Robin stood silently for a moment, considering what to do. Then she raised a hand, gesturing to her crew to stand by. “Alright, Law. We’ll level with you. Our original target here was Crocodile. It was pure coincidence that Doflamingo showed up at the same time as us.”

“I see,” Law said. He ran a hand through his hair, clearly thinking hard. “This isn’t going the way I planned," he muttered to himself.

“So, you lot still planning on going after the Hook, or what?” Kid asked, looking at Robin. “Seems to me having Joker here would make that a lot harder.”

“Well…” Robin hesitated. “Um, as of right now, we’ve decided to wait a little while before engaging Crocodile.”

“Ok, that works out well, actually,” Law said. “We’re going after Doflamingo either way, so if you want to help us, perhaps we could work together? It would be a lot easier with this many people. Once we find out where he is-”

“Oh, we already know where he is,” Nami interrupted, struggling to maintain a straight face.

“Wha- you do? Where, then?”

“He’s tied up in the hold,” Luffy said, grinning.

Law was shocked speechless, his jaw actually hanging open. Kid also seemed surprised, but he recovered quickly, throwing back his head and absolutely roaring with laughter.

“Man, you guys don’t fuck around, do you!” he said loudly. He seemed genuinely amused by the situation.

Law struggled for a few moments to regain his composure. “You caught Doflamingo,” he said eventually, his voice a bit weak. 

“Yes we did,” Robin said, not bothering to hide the touch of pride in her voice. 

“What do you have planned for him now?”

She shrugged. “I was thinking of taking him to the same prison where we left Eneru. What do you guys think?”

Her crew nodded in agreement, but Law frowned. He took a deep breath and addressed Robin once again. 

“Captain Nico, please listen to me. He’s too strong, too clever. There isn’t a prison that can hold him.”

“Oh?” Robin turned back to face him. “Did you have another suggestion?”

“Kill him now, while we have the chance,” Law said, and Kid nodded.

Surprised silence greeted this sudden statement. Then all of Robin’s crew started talking at once, making everyone’s words completely unintelligible. 

“Calm down, please!” Robin shouted above them, waving her arms. They reluctantly quieted. “One at a time, please. Brook?”

“He has an alliance with Kaido now,” Brook said. “If Doflamingo’s killed, who’s to say that Kaido won’t attack in retribution?”

“I’m not totally opposed to killing him, seeing as he is such a terrible guy, but, well, we did go through an awful lot of trouble to capture him. I was hoping we could learn something from him, about his business with Crocodile and Kaido,” Sanji added, and the others nodded.

“That’s fair,” Robin said. “Anyone else have something to add?”

“I mean killing him would be pretty convenient for us, but I don’t wanna do it just because this guy said to,” Zoro said, never taking his eyes off Law. 

“I agree,” Usopp said. “We don’t know anything about these two. And like Brook said, he might come in handy if we keep him alive.”

Law was frowning again. “Let me explain our situation,” he began. “We don-”

“No, you know what? Fuck you and your explanation,” Nami interrupted, tossing her hair defiantly. “You weren’t the ones who set that trap and did the work to catch him, you don’t get a say in what happens to him. And we all agree, we’re not interested in killing him.” Her fists were balled at her side and her face was flushed with anger.

“Huh?!” Kid took a step forward. “You saying you won’t even listen to my partner here? You wanna fuckin’ go, girlie?”

“Stop it, Eustass-ya,” Law muttered, putting a hand on his ally’s shoulder. “I think we’ve heard enough,” he said louder, looking unhappily at Robin. “We’ll be going now.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t reach an agreement,” Robin told him. “Best of luck to you two on your journies through the Line.” 

Law turned curtly and walked away, back down the gangplank. Kid glared around at them for a moment longer, then he too spun on his heel and departed. 

“Well,” Franky said, “looks like we’ve made some new friends. Great job, everyone.”

“Nami, are you ok?” Sanji asked tentatively.

“I’m fine,” she snapped. “I just… who the hell do those two think they are, barging in here like that.”

“Well, don’t let it trouble you too much,” Robin soothed. “They’re gone now. And in any case, we won’t be killing anyone any time soon. In fact, we agree unanimously, for once!”

Nami took a deep, calming breath. “You’re right, Captain.” She looked up at the sky, her big brown eyes surveying the clouds and the position of the now late afternoon sun. “I think it would probably be best to wait until tomorrow morning to sail. Unless you want to get underway now, of course.”

“No, tomorrow is fine. You guys are on your own time until then,” Robin told her crew. “As usual, be back by sunup, but you’ve earned a few hours. Good work today, everyone.”

 

“This is infuriating,” Law said. He and Kid were back aboard the little boat they had taken to Alabasta, since it was just the two of them. Law was rapidly pacing back and forth on the deck, muttering to himself as he went. “Nothing is going according to plan at all.”

Kid rolled his eyes. At least Law had waited until they’d left the Starscape to start doing the pacing thing. He always did that when he was thinking. And he always ended up overthinking everything, which was why he always got worked up when things didn’t go the way he expected them to. 

“Relax,” Kid told him, leaning against the railing and crossing his arms. “You’re going to wear a hole in the deck.”

“How can you expect me to relax?” Law asked, continuing to pace. “I’ve been planning this for years, years now. We finally have an opportunity and this, this, this historian comes along and thinks she can take this away from me… Nothing here is relaxing in the slightest! We need a new plan.”

“How about you stop pacing and talk like a normal person, for a start.”

Law ignored him. “Maybe we can offer them some sort of trade. But what? What could we get that they’d want? What do they even want? What’s their endgame, I wonder… no, it’s no good, they won’t give us Doflamingo, they made that pretty clear…”

Kid sighed. He pushed himself off the railing and moved to stand directly in Law’s path, bringing him up short.

“Listen,” Kid said, leaning down and locking eyes with Law, “what did we come here to do?”

“To...to kill Doflamingo,” Law answered, a bit unsure.

“Yeah. And is that what you want?”

“Yes.” This time there was no hesitation in his voice.

“Then that’s what we’ll do. That’s all the motherfuckin’ plan you need.”

Law blinked. Then he nodded, took a deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair again. “Ok. Ok. You’re right, Eustass-ya. We can still do this.”

“Good.” Kid straightened up as Law turned and moved towards the chest on the deck where he kept all his books and notes. “Incidentally, how much sleep did you get last night?”

Law mumbled something noncommittal about having to steer the ship. Kid rolled his eyes again.

“You’d drop dead if I weren’t around,” he grumbled, sitting down on the deck. “And you’d probably deserve it.”

Law chuckled hollowly. “Maybe that’s true, but you’d be long dead without me too.”

“Whatever, dude.”

Law was silent for a few minutes, scribbling on a piece of paper. Then he slowly lowered his pen and looked back at Kid. 

“Eustass-ya, are you sure you’re ok with this? Killing Doflamingo, I mean.”

“Hm? Yeah, sure.” Kid looked over and saw Law watching him. “What? Allies do each other favors, right?”

Law nodded and almost smiled. “I guess that’s true.

“Thanks, Eustass-ya.”

 

Robin had a long talk with Princess Vivi after Law and Kid left, explaining to her everything that had happened since they had last spoken. How they had captured Doflamingo, and what had taken place afterwards. Vivi seemed nervous about the situation, but Crocodile didn’t seem to know about Doflamingo yet, so she agreed to their plan of leaving in the morning. 

The sun eventually set, and the Songbird crew turned in for the night one by one, until only Robin was left awake. She sat on the deck with a single, flickering candle, going over her notes.

It took her quite a while to organize and revise all her information about Doflamingo and his crew, and she was tired by the time she finished. But instead of packing up right away, on a whim she checked to see if she had anything on their guests from earlier in the afternoon.

Eustass Kid’s profile was pretty much just what she’d expected. He was violent, dangerous, and always looking for a fight. His bounty was pretty high; almost impressively so, for one as young as he was.

Trafalgar Law’s information, however, fascinated her. Not a lot was known about him, but what was in his file was very interesting. He was a master not only of physical martial arts, but of medicine, aided by the use of his Devil Fruit powers. He could use his versatile powers in a variety of ways, it seemed, including for surgery, for offensive fighting, and for teleportation.

Teleportation….

“Oh no,” she whispered. She suddenly realized that they might have made a huge mistake.

Hurriedly she grabbed the candle and rushed down, towards where they had left Doflamingo sleeping off the sedatives, hoping and praying that she was wrong.

But she wasn’t wrong. When she threw open the trapdoor to the hold and peered inside, the light from the candle illuminated Doflamingo lying on the ground in a pool of dark blood, a single stab wound in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to my sister and my friend Eduardo for telling me I couldn't kill off Doflamingo in my fic ; )
> 
> Really though, there were actual plot reasons for that, I promise. I'm really excited for what's coming up, and I hope you guys are too! Thanks for reading!


	15. In Which All Hell Breaks Loose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> War has come to the Grand Line

Robin woke her crew immediately after discovering Doflamingo’s murder. They all crowded together in the hold, and for some time no one was able to tear their eyes away from the bloody scene before them. 

Eventually though, the initial shock wore off and the panic began to set in. Everyone rushed back upstairs to raise anchor and make ready to sail. They were underway before sunup.

There had been quiet talk of taking the body with them, or throwing it overboard so it wouldn’t be found. But in the end, they’d simply left it on the docks, where it would be found in the morning. Even knowing what kind of a man Doflamingo had been in life, the crew found themselves unable to face the prospect of desecrating his body in death.

The winds and waves were a little rough that night, but it was nothing Nami couldn’t handle. She stood at the helm, watching her log pose closely, occasionally blinking away angry tears. Sanji wordlessly retrieved a washrag and bucket and went back to the hold to scrub the blood from the floor. Usopp called Vivi and explained what had happened, a slight tremor in his voice.

Robin stood at the stern railing, watching Alabasta grow smaller and smaller on the horizon. 

Chopper nervously approached her, seeking advice. But when he got close, he realized that silent tears were streaming down Robin’s face.

“Captain?” he asked quietly. “Are you ok?”

Robin blinked, startled. She seemed as surprised as Chopper to discover the tears on her cheeks. “I’m fine, Chopper. But...we failed here. I failed. I should have realized that those two would try something like that. And who knows how many others will suffer now, because of my mistake.”

“No one blames you for this, Captain. If anyone’s to blame, it’s Trafalgar Law.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anyway. What’s done is done, and soon enough the others will find out about Doflamingo’s death. I don’t...I have no idea what we should do.”

Chopper reached up and touched Robin’s leg with his small hoof. “You’ll think of something, I’m sure. Don’t give up, Captain; there’s gonna be even more people who need us.”

Robin smiled at him, but it wasn’t her usual gentle, reassuring smile. She looked very tired.

“You’re right. I promise, I’ll think of something.”

“What course, Captain?” Nami called from her post at the helm.

Robin hesitated for a moment, then simply answered, “To Nelia.”

Nami nodded and spun the wheel. They sailed further and further away from Alabasta, until the island completely disappeared into the night.

 

Doflamingo’s murder turned out to have far more serious repercussions than anyone, even Robin, could have predicted. Once his body was discovered, the delicate balance of powers in the Grand Line crumbled and chaos spread like wildfire.

Kaido of the Four Emperors, with whom Doflamingo had secretly formed an alliance, was outraged. He wasted no time in blaming Crocodile for his ally’s death, and dispatching a warship towards Alabasta. 

Crocodile was frantic, knowing that there was no way he could escape a direct attack from Kaido while in Alabasta. In a last-ditch, desperate move, he appealed to the marines, using his status as one of the Seven Warlords to petition for their aid. 

The marines readily agreed, surprising many people, including most of the Songbird Pirates. Sanji grimly informed his crewmates that the marine leadership highly resented the fact that they couldn’t control the Four Emperors, and had been looking for an excuse to attack one of them for years.

Some of the other Warlords sided with Crocodile and the marines, but some didn’t. As it turned out, Kaido and Doflamingo weren’t the only ones to have made secret alliances. Within days, almost the entire Grand Line was an open warzone. 

The normally steady flow of travel between islands, by pirates and civilians alike, came to a screeching halt. Some of the smaller pirate crews threw in their lots with one of the greater powers of the Line, but most of them docked their ships at the nearest point and battened their hatches as quickly as they could. 

It was a strange kind of war. One fought over land and sea, across vast distances, and with every kind of weapon imaginable. And it was bloody.

Marines and pirates from any of the other allied forces clashed wherever and whenever they met, always leaving a trail of dead in their wake. Several large battles were fought on highly populated islands, resulting in numerous civilian casualties. Many devil fruit users drowned at sea. The newspapers did their best to keep up with the latest developments, but it was nearly impossible to track everything that was happening at once. 

When the news did come, the Songbirds all crowded together to read it over one another’s shoulders. And when the news was bad, they did their best to help each other cope. 

Quick touches on the shoulder or the hand, a gentle, reassuring word, or sometimes even just a shared eye contact. Before they knew it, they had come to rely on each other more than any of them liked to admit. Because to admit that they needed that strength would mean acknowledging the guilt that all of them felt at not having been able to prevent the war. 

The days dragged on. They were always watching for any sign of danger, always tense and ready to spring into action at the slightest indication.

But at night, when the winds were quiet and they could relax just a little, they spent their time together on the deck. Brook played for them, happy songs they could all sing along to. They exchanged stories from their travels. Nami was the one who came up with the idea that they camp out on the deck; they told themselves that they were only doing it to protect themselves if an enemy attacked at night, but really it was just a lot easier to sleep with all their comrades around them. It felt safer than sleeping alone.

Before falling asleep, they would all look up at the stars, and Robin would point out the constellations. 

When they finally returned to Nelia and made their way through the jungle to the Revolutionary Army’s secret headquarters, they found that the war had changed it. Only the bare minimum of personnel needed to maintain the base remained; everyone else had been sent to monitor the front lines. Sabo and Koala were both away. From the looks of things, some of the oldest of the resident children had been shipped out, too. 

Kohza was there, though. He was waiting for them anxiously by the main entrance, and when he saw them approaching, he hurried to meet them.

“Robin,” he said, a little breathlessly, “you said you needed to talk to me. Is everything ok?”

Robin gave him the best smile she could muster, given the circumstances. “Well, I wouldn’t say everything is ok. But we have a message for you, from Princess Vivi.”

Kohza took a sharp breath, his eyes widening in surprise. “You… you went to Alabasta?”

“Yes. And we met the princess. She’s kind of in the middle of something right now, so she couldn’t deliver this herself, but she sends her regards,” Robin said, holding out a folded piece of paper on which Usopp had transcribed Vivi’s words for her friend.

“Thank you,” Kohza said, taking the paper and unfolding it. He quickly read over the whole thing, blinking away the tears beginning to brim in his eyes. 

“You shouldn’t worry about her,” Luffy told him. “She’s really strong.”

Kohza laughed, pushing up his glasses to wipe his eyes. “You’re right. She is.” He took a deep breath, replacing his glasses. “Robin, Dragon is here. He has to leave again soon, but you should talk with him before he goes.”

“He’s still here? Good, I’ll go see him right now. You guys are free to go,” she said to her crew. “I’ll let you know when I need you again.”

Robin and Kohza walked away towards Dragon’s office, leaving the rest of the crew standing on the wooden platform by themselves. Now that they finally had some free time to themselves, none of them felt like spending it alone.

 

“Eustass-ya.”

“It’s the middle of the night. Go the fuck to sleep.”

“Do you regret helping me kill him?”

“...No.”

“We started a war. People are dying because of us.”

“I know.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Go get our crews and get somewhere safe. The same thing we were gonna do anyway.”

“You don’t want to end the alliance?”

“I might change my mind if you keep talking while I’m trying to sleep, you fucking bastard.”

“Sorry.”

“...Hey Law.”

“Hm?”

“If anyone’s gonna come out of this alive, it’s us. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. You’re right. We’ll be fine.”

“Right. Now go to sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's what I want you to take away from this chapter: Some of the big names in the Grand Line are going to die in this war, and some more are going to fight until they find themselves with nothing left. That way, I won't have to write a little mini arc for every single Warlord and Emperor. For example, at the time I'm writing this, we know next to nothing about Kaido and his forces, so I'll probably get rid of him. I know things are moving pretty fast now, so if you have any questions, feel free to hit me up in the comments or on tumblr. Thanks for reading!
> 
> EDIT: Tags have finally been updated to include all these other characters and such, I'll try to be better about that in the future


	16. In Which Much Strategizing is Necessary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back on Nelia once again, the Songbirds plan their next move. Robin tries to convince Dragon to listen to her advice, on multiple scores.

“No, no, no. No! Your form is all wrong. Start over.”

Nami growled and lowered her halberd. “What was wrong with that?” she asked angrily, a little red in the face from the exercise.

“I just said, your form is wrong,” Zoro answered, crossing his arms. “You’re the one who asked me to train you, the least you could do is follow instructions!”

“Stuff it merc, you know you don’t have anything better to do right now.” She took a deep breath and resolutely raised her halberd again, starting the exercise over.

Zoro muttered something about sleep under his breath, but didn’t object. He had never taught anyone to use a sword before, let alone a halberd. But Nami was making good progress, and he was hoping that eventually she’d be able to spar with him on the ship. Right now the only one of the crew up to his level was Sanji, and he had no desire to ask him. Nami wasn’t the ideal choice either, but she’d do. 

“I think you’re doing great, Nami,” Usopp said from where he sat on the floor, working on a fresh supply of specialty projectiles for his slingshot. For once, his long sleeves were rolled back, exposing the striped tattoos on his forearms. 

“Yeah, keep it up,” Chopper agreed, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading. 

“Oi, this room is for training. You guys shut up if you want to stay in here.”

Usopp frowned as he placed a completed pellet in the pile by his side. “Well, where else should we go? This isn’t our base. It’s not like we can just walk around like we own the place.”

“It’s fine, let them stay,” Nami said in between swings of her weapon. 

“Stay focused,” Zoro snapped at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, but continued to practice. 

They were quiet for a few minutes, each focused on their own tasks. Then the door opened, and Sanji entered the room.

“Ah, hey, I thought you guys might be hungry. I got us some snacks, if you’re interested.”

“Thanks, Sanji!” Chopper said happily. He and Usopp set aside what they were doing and moved towards the food. 

“Why don’t we take a break, too?” Nami asked Zoro. He nodded, and she lowered her halberd, using her arm to wipe some of the sweat off her forehead. 

“How’s it coming, Nami?” Sanji asked as she approached, holding out a bottle of water for her. 

“My form’s not good, apparently,” she replied wryly. “Thanks,” she added, accepting the water and taking a long drink. 

“Where are the others?” Usopp asked Sanji, already reaching for his second snack.

“Luffy, Franky, and Brook are all with the kids. The Captain is still with Dragon, I think.”

“Still? It’s been over two hours.” 

Nami screwed the cap back on the water bottle, a thoughtful look on her face. “What do you guys think they’re talking about?”

Usopp shrugged. “Captain Robin isn’t technically a member of the revolution anymore, so I don’t know. Two hours is a really long time though, so it must be something important.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever even seen this guy,” Zoro said. “Have any of you?”

“No.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Now that you mention it, he was never around at meals or anything, back when we were here the first time.”

They lapsed back into silence for a time, each lost in their own thoughts. 

“I hope we can get back underway soon,” Chopper said.

 

Robin sat back in her chair, pressed her fingers to her eyes. “I just don’t see what else you could possibly do,” she said.

Dragon didn’t immediately reply. He was standing across from her, bent over the maps spread out on the desk between them. 

“There’s got to be something,” he muttered, his fingers tracing imaginary routes through the Grand Line on the largest, most detailed map. 

Robin sighed. “Dragon, I understand where you’re coming from, I do. But trust me, now is not the time. The government is one of the only things still functioning somewhat normally right now, and if you try anything, it could end up hurting the civilians of the Line.”

“Damn it, this is a revolution! The whole point is to take out the government! If I don’t take this opportunity now-”

“There will be another chance, if you just give it some time! Once the war is settled, and the lines have been redrawn, you will be stronger than them. Have some patience, please, I beg of you.”

He growled in frustration and crossed his arms. “Fine. I will consider your advice. But if the situation changes, I will not hesitate to put my plans into action.” He paused, then added quietly, “remember, you are no longer one of us, Robin.”

“I know that,” she responded, a little more harshly than intended. She hadn’t anticipated how much it would sting to hear him say it. “But I’m still the best historian and strategist you know, so I hope you do take my advice.”

Wearily, she stood up. “It’s getting late. I should go find my crew.” He nodded absently, his eyes on the maps again, and she turned to walk out.

At the doorway, she hesitated. “We’ll be here for another day or two,” she said over her shoulder. “You should consider talking to Luffy while we’re here.”

“Is that the historian’s advice, or the strategist’s?” he grumbled.

“It’s a friend’s advice, Dragon. And that’s the most important kind I can give you.”

 

By the time Robin located and gathered all her crew members, it was past dinner time, and her stomach was beginning to complain. Luckily, Sanji had got permission to use the kitchen and made them a proper meal.

Rather than eat at one of the long tables in the base’s nearly-deserted dining hall, they took their food outside and sat in the open air beneath the jungle canopy. The sun began to set on the horizon, and the first fireflies of the season made their appearances, blinking in and out around the pirates. 

Their talk throughout the meal was small, mostly meaningless. Robin knew that the others could see from her face how tired she really was, and she appreciated that they didn’t press her. But she also knew that they couldn’t stay on Nelia for long, and that they needed a new plan. 

Eventually she set her plate aside and took a deep breath. “If you all don’t mind,” she said, “I think we need to talk about what we’re going to do next.”

Her crew obligingly turned towards her, putting down their own plates and focusing in.

“Captain, wait a second,” Nami interjected, raising a hand. “Will you...I mean, if you can, could you tell us what you discussed with Dragon earlier?”

Robin hesitated, considering how much she could say to her crew. Then she answered quietly, “Dragon wants to ally himself with one of the factions opposing the marines, and work his way to the government’s leaders.”

“Whoa, what?” Sanji looked confused. “I thought the revolution was going to stay neutral through this!”

“That would be the smart course of action, yes. We spent a long time reviewing the situation. I think I’ve managed to convince him for now, but…” Robin spread her hands in a ‘who knows’ gesture. 

Luffy frowned. “If they agree to fight in the war, will we have to fight against them? I don’t want that. They’ve let us stay here, and they’ve fed us and everything.”

“I know, Luffy. None of us want that, but we’ll just have to wait and see where this goes.”

“Captain, do you have a plan for where we should go next?” Franky asked, taking a drink from a bottle of cola. 

“As a matter of fact, I have. But I’m afraid I don’t know how we’ll get close, or what we’ll be able to do once we get there. I was hoping you guys might be able to help me brainstorm a bit,” she admitted, smiling a little. 

“Well, tell us who the target is, and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

“It’s not a ‘who’ this time, Zoro, it’s more of a ‘what.’ It seems that someone is supplying Kaido and Big Mom with artificially created devil fruits, therefore increasing the number of powered combatants on the-”

“Waitwaitwait. Slow down there, Captain. Did you just say artificial devil fruits? How is that possible?” Usopp demanded. 

“I don’t know, but all intelligence points to this being the case. I think it would be for the best if we destroyed the factory producing these new fruits, because the Emperors are using them to create larger, more powerful armies. It’ll be very tough for us to get anywhere near them if they have unlimited access to devil fruits like this. As for the factory, we only know that it is located somewhere on the island of Karakuri, deep within enemy territory.”

“Hm, so we need a way to get there without being detected?”

“Yes. I think it’s safe to assume that our descriptions have been well-circulated by now, as well as that of the Starscape.” 

Everyone was quiet for a moment, thinking hard. Then Usopp spoke up. 

“I’ve been past Karakuri a couple of times, with my troupe. If they’re still making the rounds, we could just join up with them,” he said tentatively.

Nami snorted and Zoro shook his head, but Luffy, Brook, and Chopper looked thrilled. Robin thought about it for a bit, and finally nodded slowly. 

“You know Usopp, that might actually work. Can you contact your troupe by den den mushi?”

“I’ll try.”

“Are you sure, Captain?” Sanji asked, doubt showing on his face. “What makes you think a travelling circus would be allowed across enemy lines?”

“Why shouldn’t they be? It’s just a circus, Sanji. Nobody has ever been attacked by a circus...yet.”

She smiled at her own joke. Usopp and the others laughed, delighted at the prospect of disguising themselves among a circus troupe. Even Nami seemed to have warmed to the idea a bit. Zoro and Sanji still seemed a little unconvinced, but they didn’t object.

It was then that a nearby door opened and Dragon stepped out of it. It was hard to read his stoic expression, especially in the growing darkness, but Robin could see he was a little more wary than usual. 

“Oh, hello Dragon. What can we do for you?”

He cleared his throat a little self-consciously. “I was wondering if I could, uh, have a few words with Luffy, actually.”

“With me?” Luffy cocked his head to the side, clearly trying to remember if he’d ever met Dragon before. “Sure, I don’t mind. Be back in a bit,” he said to his crewmates, getting to his feet. 

“That was weird,” Nami said once the two had disappeared from sight, back inside. “What was that about, Captain?”

“Mmm, who knows, I wonder?” Robin said mischievously, grinning. “Haha, it’s nothing for you guys to worry about. Anyway, let’s get this cleaned up, and I’ll find us some rooms here for the night. Usopp, I want news on this circus plan by tomorrow, please.”

“Yes Ma’am, I’ll get right on it.” 

“The rest of you, get some good rest. Tomorrow we’ll know whether or not this is happening.”

 

The response from Usopp’s troupe came early the next morning, while the rest of the crew was eating breakfast. 

They were sitting outside on the same platform where they had eaten dinner, Sanji pouring them tea into cups from thermos. Luffy and Chopper were swinging their feet over the platform’s edge. Nami was cheerfully recounting her progress with the halberd to Franky and Robin. 

Usopp’s voice reached them before he did; they looked up to see him running down one of the catwalks, waving and shouting excitedly. 

“Good news, Usopp?” Robin asked him when he got within earshot. 

“Very good, Captain,” he replied, a little breathlessly. “I spoke with the ringmaster, Kaleo, about our situation, and he’s agreed to let us use the troupe as a cover to get to Karakuri.”

The pirates cheered happily. Usopp held up his hands, grinning. 

“Wait, there’s more,” he said. “They’re not actually far from here now. We could meet up with them within a day, if we leave soon.”

“That certainly is good news,” Robin agreed happily. “Gather your things everyone...we’re going to the circus!”

More cheers from the crew, who immediately began the now-familiar routine of hastily clearing up their dishes and rushing to gather their possessions before heading back to their ship. 

“Luffy,” Robin called, motioning for the boy to hang back a moment. “It’s none of my business what Dragon said to you last night,” she told him, “but I want you to know that whatever it was, it was hard for him to say. He’s not...shall we say, very good at talking about his feelings. I hope you don’t resent him for not saying anything to you sooner.”

For a moment, Robin truly didn’t know what Luffy was thinking. Then his face split into that wide grin of his, and she knew he wasn’t upset. 

“Nah, it’s cool, Captain! It was kinda weird, but hey, better late than never, I guess.” He shrugged slightly, and hurried to catch up with the others.

“Oh, but you know,” he said, turning back to face her after a few steps, “the one you really need to convince him to talk to is my Grandpa, Vice Admiral Garp, not me.”

Robin laughed as he turned again and dashed ahead of her. Her life certainly had been full of surprises since she’d returned to pirating. Not the least of which was this new circus development. She was a bit skeptical that this ruse could work, but if she was completely honest with herself she was quite looking forward to it. 

After all, in all her time working various jobs and constantly moving around, she’d never done anything half so glamorous as working in the circus. Who knew what new experiences were waiting for them on the next leg of their journey?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why there's never been anything in canon about travelling circuses. I think Oda-sensei is really missing out on a golden opportunity with that one. After all, Buggy had to get his clown aesthetic from somewhere, right??? Get hype for the next chapter, I think you'll like it. Thanks for reading, as always!


	17. In Which the Curtain Rises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew spends a few weeks with a travelling circus

Life with the circus was not nearly as easy as Robin had imagined. In fact, it was quite demanding, and she felt a little silly for having assumed that it would be easy simply because it was glamorous. 

The Songbird crew had made good time sailing from Nelia, and had indeed been able to rendezvous with Usopp’s former troupe, the Flying Safari Circus, within the day. The circus travelled with a motley, varied collection of ships, which Robin took as an encouraging sign. The Starscape wouldn’t stand out in a group like this, and sneaking into Karakuri should be easy. 

The troupe’s ringleader was a very small, very round, very energetic man named Kaleo. He greeted the pirates cheerfully, and treated Usopp as an old friend. 

“Thank you for allowing us to travel with you, sir,” Robin had said politely.

“It’s no trouble at all, young lady, no trouble at all!” he’d responded happily. “I mean, you’ll be helping us out along the way as well, so you could say that this is a win-win situation.”

“Um...we will?”

“But of course, my dear!”

They learned very quickly that it was nearly impossible to argue with Ringmaster Kaleo. 

 

The Flying Safari Circus held performances at every island along the line. Traditionally, they remained at an island for at least a week at a time. However, since the war had broken out, they only ever stayed a day or two, preferring to keep moving as much as possible. 

With their new schedule, the troupe put on two performances in a day. If they thought they could make a decent profit, they delayed their departure to give another show the next morning. 

However, profits weren’t really a big concern for the Flying Safari. Apparently, they were quite well-known, and they rarely performed for an audience that was anything less than packed. 

As Robin had hoped, her crew adapted quickly to the circus’ routine. It came as a bit of a surprise to all of them when they were asked to join the performances as well as pulling duty shifts backstage, but they accepted readily enough. And when the curtains rose on the first night, they further surprised themselves by being really good at it.

The Flying Safari had all the elements of a normal circus: magicians, feats of strength and dexterity, exotic animals, richly costumed dancers. But what made the troupe unique was the fact that they performed almost entirely in the dark.

The magicians wore capes and hats with stars scattered all over, and produced bursts of colored flame from seemingly thin air. The dancers’ slippers flashed across the stage, their skirts whirling and flashing with hidden lights. The animals’ manes and hides were painted with bright splashes of neon color that left only shining silhouettes once the lights went out. 

Every member of the troupe had some kind of color on them, displaying glowing patterns on their skin while they performed. Since the pirates were only traveling with the circus temporarily, they took advantage of some of the same paint that was used on the animals. It was kind of a hassle to paint on and then wash off before and after shows, but the effects were unquestionably stunning.

Most of the long-term residents of the troupe had gotten their designs tattooed on, thereby avoiding the necessity of repainting them for each show. Usopp told his crewmates that one of Kaleo’s predecessors had discovered a way to combine the glowing element of the paint with the tattoo ink, allowing it to remain safely within human skin. 

“Wait, wait,” Nami said, holding up her hands. “Are you telling me that your tattoos glow in the dark?”

“Well, yeah. I travelled with this circus for five years, I wasn’t going to paint it on every day.”

“How did we never notice this?” Franky asked incredulously. “Sanji, you’ve been bunking with him this whole time, and you never noticed him glowing?”

Sanji shrugged. “I’m usually asleep by the time he comes in.”

“If they don’t absorb as much sunlight, they don’t glow as much,” Usopp explained. “That’s why I usually wear long sleeves, if I’m not working or something. It gets kinda hard to sleep with glowing yellow light everywhere.”

“Usopp, this is awesome,” Luffy told him, eyes shining. “I can’t wait to get some! This is gonna be so much fun, guys!”

Like the other members of the troupe, the pirates alternated between performing and working backstage. The rotating schedule always kept them on their toes, and each show was a distinctly different experience than the last. 

When they did participate on stage, the other performers welcomed them warmly. And if the audience reactions were any gage, they played their parts well. 

Luffy, Brook, Chopper, and Robin simply dressed the part and showed off their powers. Zoro used his skills with the blade to wow the crowd, his swords reflecting flashes of glowing light. Nami temporarily joined one of the dancing crews, and Sanji was recruited to a group of acrobats whose grand finale was a five-layer human pyramid. Franky proved to be a big help to the animal handlers, since he was strong as well as physically almost impervious to teeth and claws. 

But the one who was truly in his element was Usopp. Before he had joined Robin’s crew, he’d been a trapeze artist, and apparently a fairly talented one at that. Despite his time off, he easily jumped right back into the performance schedule. He and the other fliers worked like a well oiled machine, making complicated maneuvers look easy. They soared through the air high above the audience’s heads, never using a net. 

Working backstage involved a multitude of responsibilities. They handled props and gave cues, aimed the spotlights and manipulated the sets. Sometimes they were also called upon to sell tickets or popcorn. All of it was very fast-paced, and some of it even a little dangerous, but Robin thought it was almost as much fun as performing on the stage. 

When their last show at an island was over, everyone in the troupe helped disassemble the enormous, striped circus tent and pack up all the various equipment and animals. The members of the Flying Safari seemed to have this process down to a science, and it didn’t take them long at all to load their ships and set sail. 

Like the rest of the circus, the ships themselves were a riot of colors and decorations. They traveled in a tight group so as not to get separated. Occasionally, members of the circus would swing daringly between ships, using a complicated ropes system; Luffy desperately wanted to try this, but Robin refused to let him do so, worrying that he would drown himself in the attempt. 

They played their parts well, changing the sails on the Starscape and decorating the railings with colored banners, even taking on some of the troupe’s cargo. However, their precautions seemed almost unnecessary. Though there were sometimes other pirates or even marines in the audiences, none of them looked twice at the Songbirds or their ship. 

They worked day and night alongside the other members of the troupe, all of whom accepted them without question. “We don’t care what you did before,” one woman told Robin. “You are not the first to want it kept quiet, and you won’t be the last. All we care about is that you are here now. This is the only family some of us have ever had; you are all part of that now, no matter the reasons.”

 

After a few weeks of traveling with the Flying Safari, the island of Karakuri finally came into sight on the horizon. 

“Looks sweet!” said Franky, eyeing the island excitedly.

“Looks cold,” said Nami distastefully. “Why are the only places we ever go temperate extremes? When are the bad guys going to start setting up their stuff on spring islands?”

“Are we all clear on the plan?” Robin asked. They chorused their agreement, and she nodded. “Good. In that case, we’ve got one more show to perform before we’re through, so let’s make it a good one.”

“Captain, what should we do if we’re seen by one of Big Mom or Kaido’s people at the show tonight?”

“That’s unlikely, Sanji, but if it does happen, alert the rest of us right away. We’d have to accelerate our plans. However, if everything goes well, we won’t start until the rest of the troupe has moved out. That way they’ll be safe.”

“It’s been so much fun with them,” Chopper said. “I wish we could stay longer.”

“Yeah, me too,” Luffy agreed. “This was the best idea, Usopp, thanks.”

Usopp smiled. “Ha, I’m glad you guys enjoyed yourselves. But we can’t really help anyone if we’re with the troupe all the time.”

“Yeah, time to go back to what we do best.”

“You consider pirating to be what we do best, Zoro?”

“Well, I know I’m better at fighting than I am at selling popcorn.”

“Don’t you guys have a show to be preparing for?” Robin scolded, but she was smiling. “Come on now, let’s get to it.”

“Alright, Captain, alright.”

Her crew scattered, some to their bunks to get dressed, some to the hold to retrieve the circus’ cargo, some to the rigging to retrieve the borrowed sails. 

“Captain Robin, help me paint my face?”

“Sure, Nami, just a second.”

Robin stayed behind on the deck a moment, making a last note in one of her books. Little was known about Karakuri, and she was nervous about what they’d find there, but she was reassured to have her crew with her, and to have a solid plan for once. 

She closed the book and hurried after Nami. The war could wait a few hours more; for now, she had a curtain call to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a ton of fun for me (glowing colors are one of my great weaknesses, I must admit). I hope I was able to give you guys a good mental image of what the Flying Safari's shows are like. Next time we return to action and serious plot; please look forward to that too!


	18. In Which an Unforeseen Encounter Occurs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While doing some recon work on Karakuri Island, Sanji encounters a familiar face.

That night, after the Flying Safari had packed up and sailed on, the Songbird pirates put away their gaudy circus costumes, washed the paint from their skin, and gathered on the deck for Robin’s usual intel briefing. As much fun as it had been travelling with the circus, it was something of a relief to return to their normal roles. Not to mention, it was comforting being able to openly carry their weapons once again. 

“Alright Captain, tell us what you know,” Nami said, hugging herself. “The sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can leave. I’m freezing.”

Zoro snorted. “How can you still be cold with that huge jacket on?”

“Gee Zoro, maybe because it’s cold! See you can tell, because of all the snow! Don’t tell me you’re feeling warm in all this.”

“A warrior doesn’t let the climate affect him.”

“I’m not cold,” Chopper put in helpfully. 

“Enough, everyone, please,” Robin said. “Yes, Nami, it is cold here, but let’s try not to complain. And Zoro, stop showing off and put something on, you’re going to get frostbite.”

 

Zoro grumbled a little, but reluctantly shrugged on his coat anyway. The rest of the crew moved in closer to see all the papers and files Robin had spread out on the deck. 

“So, artificial devil fruits, huh?” Franky mused, studying a sheet of paper with a hasty sketch in the corner. “I’m still having a hard time believing this.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about it myself,” Robin said. “I don’t know how, but they have definitely found a way to make them. There have been tons of witnesses.”

Usopp shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t really matter, right? There are already people out there, using these new powers to fight in their stupid war. We don’t need to know how they’re made, just how to stop it.”

“That’s a good point, Usopp. Unfortunately, I don’t really know how we’re going to do that either.” Robin frowned a bit, leaning over the papers scattered on the deck. “There just isn’t enough here for me to come up with a concrete plan. How do you guys feel about doing some quick reconnaissance tonight?”

Sanji looked skeptical. “Why can’t we just bust their door in and shut them down? We’d definitely take them by surprise, and I think we could pull it off if we all went.”

“Also, I would personally prefer not to have to do any recon in this snow,” Brook said.

Robin looked up at her crew, still frowning. “One of the few things I have been able to find out for sure is that, before he died, this was Doflamingo’s pet project.”

“...Oh,” said Luffy.

“Do you understand now why I don’t trust this not to have some added layer to it?”

Nami sighed. “Recon it is, then.”

 

“Wow, this place is huge,” Luffy said, craning his neck upwards.

“Yes, indeed,” Brook agreed. “Probably a good thing we didn’t decide to go with a head-on assault.”

“Shh, keep it down you guys,” Sanji hissed. “We don’t know anything about the forces here. Someone might hear us.”

Robin had split her crew into three teams and sent them on their way while she remained behind to guard the ship and coordinate their movements. Nami, Zoro, and Chopper went out into the port town, to see if there was anything to learn from the locals. Franky and Usopp circled the edges of the town, looking out for anything suspicious. Robin wanted to know if Doflamingo or one of the others had set up any traps for would-be enemies, or tried to conceal something from the townspeople. 

Sanji, Luffy, and Brook were the ones sent to scope out the actual factory they had come for. It had taken them a while to find it, since they only had a vague idea of where to look, but they found it eventually. 

Luffy was right: it was huge. The factory was built right into the base of the mountain, and so far they had only discovered one way in. There were also several guards patrolling the perimeter. 

Sanji blew into his hands and rubbed them together, trying to keep warm. This was looking a bit more difficult than they had originally anticipated. He might have come to trust and accept his new crewmates, but somehow he doubted that they’d be able to pull off a stealth mission well enough to infiltrate this factory without triggering every alarm bell on Karakuri. 

“Any word from the Captain?” he asked Brook, who was currently holding their den den mushi.

“None. Sanji, I don’t know what else we can hope to learn by staying out here. Don’t you think we should start heading back?”

“I’m trying to time the guards. The least we can do is figure out the pattern, since we don’t have any other intel to bring back.”

Luffy giggled. “Hey Brook, hey Brook: why are you in such a hurry to get back? It’s not like you can get frostbite!”

“Yohohoho, that was a very good one, Luffy!”

Sanji rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. He’d learned better than to let the crew’s constant jokes and light-hearted attitudes get under his skin.

Suddenly, he heard what sounded like the sound of running footsteps in the snow behind them. Surprised, he whirled around, but was brought up short by the sight of a two strange figures, one of whom already had a sword drawn and pointed at them. 

“Hold right there,” said the shorter of the two. Sanji couldn’t quite make out all the strangers’ features through the curtain of falling snow, but the speaker’s voice was male. Though unarmed, he stood in a firm stance with his fists up, also ready for a fight. “Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt.”

“Whoa,” Luffy said, not really sounding worried, “where did you guys come from?”

“Hey, watch it, buddy. We’d rather not make this difficult, so don’t make us hurt you.”

“We just need you to come with us,” the second stranger added, “to answer some questions. If you cooperate, we’ll let you go unharmed. Well, mostly unharmed.”

Sanji narrowed his eyes. The second voice, a female’s, sounded very familiar to him. After a moment, it came to him, and he smiled incredulously. “Tashigi! Is that you?”

“Wha- Sanji?!” The woman with the sword moved a little closer in order to get a better look at them. He’d guessed correctly; it was in fact his former comrade, Captain Tashigi. “What are you doing out here?” she asked, keeping her sword up. 

“Sanji? As in, the former Captain Sanji?” Tashigi’s companion also moved closer. He also wore a marine captain’s garb, but Sanji didn’t recognise him.

“You know them, Sanji?” Brook whispered.

“Yes, Tashigi and I worked together often in the past,” Sanji explained. “Have you forgotten me already, Tashigi? Why, I’m insulted.”

“Shut up,” she said angrily, jabbing her sword in his direction. “You deserted us...you’re a pirate now. A criminal! Don’t try to deny it, everyone knows.” 

“Um, well, yes. That is true. But it’s not like you think! We’re here to destroy this factory. Right, guys?” He looked at Luffy and Brook, gesturing for them to back him up.

“Oh, yeah,” Luffy agreed. He still didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable with the situation. “Y’see, we’re good pirates. Some of the Four Emperors are making fake devil fruits in there, so we came to stop them.”

Tashigi and her companion looked at each other. “You want to...destroy this factory?” the man asked hesitantly.

“Yes. Please believe us,” Brook said. His grip was tight on his cane, but so far he had made no move to draw his sword. “We don’t want to fight with you guys, either.”

Tashigi’s sword wavered a little. “Coby, maybe we should listen to what they have to say.”

The other marine, Coby, frowned. “You know how I feel about this, Tashigi, but...it’s not really up to us, is it?”

“If you want, we can take you to our ship,” Luffy offered. “Captain Robin is better at explaining things than us anyway.”

“You know what, that sounds good to me,” Coby said, relaxing his stance. “Tashigi, why don’t we go with them?”

“But, what about…” Tashigi looked uneasy. “He won’t like this, Coby.”

“Maybe not, but I think we need to talk to him about it. I don’t want to just let it be, especially not now.” Coby turned back to the pirates. “If we call our superior, and you call yours, you’ll agree to a temporary truce?”

“You guys seem like good marines,” Luffy said, grinning. “I’m sure Robin will want to talk to you.”

Coby smiled back. “Ha, thanks. You guys don’t seem that bad yourselves. I just hope the Vice Admiral sees it our way.”

 

Smoker stood with his arms crossed, staring at the assembled pirate crew across from him. He had been standing in exactly the same position since coming aboard the Starscape. He did not look like a man open to negotiation. 

“Soooo,” Coby said, looking a little uncomfortable. “Vice Admiral Smoker, these are the Songbird Pirates, um, and they would like to talk to you. About the mission.”

“Nice to meet you,” Robin added.

“What. The fuck. Is this, Coby!” Smoker finally stopped glaring at the pirates and glared at Coby and Tashigi instead. Both the younger marines shuffled their feet a little guiltily. 

“The truth is, Sir, Coby and I already discussed this,” Tashigi admitted, nervously fiddling with her glasses. “We don’t really...agree...with our orders in this particular situation.”

“How ‘bout filling the rest of us in,” Franky said. “What exactly are your orders here, marines?”

“We’re supposed to take over the facility producing the new devil fruits,” Coby explained. 

“But we don’t want to,” Tashigi added quickly. “It seems like these things are experimental, and highly unsafe. We’d rather destroy the factory than put our people in danger.”

“Marines disobeying orders and ignoring a chance to gain an advantage? Color me surprised,” Nami scoffed.

“I’m more surprised that they willingly agreed with the ideas of us filthy pirates,” Zoro said mockingly.

“Be quiet,” Smoker snapped at them. “And you two; you’re saying you want to disobey direct orders, and you want me to lie to our superiors about it?! Even though the acquisition of those devil fruits could help us end the war quicker?”

“Sir, just think about it,” Coby pleaded. “We could save a lot of people by ending this crazy production right here. And we could even blame these pirates for it! But it would be a whole lot more believable if you backed us up. Sir.”

“Vice Admiral Smoker,” Tashigi chimed in, “you’re the one who’s always trying to get the men to fight for justice. Well, right now, these pirates are being just, and our superiors aren’t. You don’t have to help us, just please, say you won’t turn us in. Please?”

Smoker put a hand over his eyes. “You guys really aren’t making this easy for me, you know that?”

“Sorry, Sir.”

The white-haired marine lowered his hand and looked at the pirates again. “Who’s in charge here?”

Robin took a step forward. “I am.”

Smoker also took a step forward. “Listen up. We will help you destroy the devil fruit factory. But if at any time you even make me think that you might betray us, I won’t hesitate to take every single one of you out. Am I understood?”

“Quite clearly, Mr. Smoker.” Robin looked up into Smoker’s eyes, unfazed. “Of course, we also expect you to do your part to maintain this truce throughout this operation.”

Smoker scowled, but nodded.

“Well, then, glad that’s settled,” Robin said, smiling. “I’m Nico Robin, and this is my crew: Luffy, Sanji, Brook, Usopp, Chopper, Franky, Nami, and Zoro.”

“I’m Coby, and this is Tashigi. I suppose we should thank you for agreeing to work with us.”

Robin smiled. “We only want to do what we can to help, Coby.”

“Alright, alright, enough pleasantries,” Smoker growled. “Let’s get down to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I miss the circus. At least we get some new guest stars to entertain us for a while! As always, thank you for reading. I appreciate it very much.


	19. In Which the New Alliance is Put to the Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The marines and the pirates combine their efforts to try to learn as much as they can about the factory they intend to destroy

“...And that’s all we know,” Robin said. She and Smoker were sitting across from each other at the table in the Starscape’s galley, her notes spread out between them. “When we came here, I’m afraid we had no idea that the factory was so fortified. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to run into you all!”

She smiled at him, trying to be friendly. He didn’t smile back, merely took another drag on his cigars and picked up one of the pages, studying it intently.

Robin leaned back in her chair and masaged one of her temples with her fingers. She’d hardly had a minute of rest since their last circus performance, and she was tired. She wasn’t sure that she was in any condition to be doing this at the moment. 

But despite having agreed to work together, Smoker still didn’t seem entirely convinced. And even though she really was grateful for the extra help, she still had to admit that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea. She worried that Smoker wouldn’t honor their agreement, and that she was putting her crew in danger by working so closely with these marines. 

She may not like it, but working with the marines was a far better option than working directly against them. Robin was trying to put her worries aside and focus on the bigger issue at hand, but the Vice Admiral wasn’t making it easy for her at the moment.

“You sure do have a lot of intel here,” Smoker interrupted her thoughts from across the table. “Some of this is beyond what even we have access to. Where did you learn all this?”

“Oh, I have my sources.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You still haven’t told me your intel about the target, Vice Admiral.”

Smoker frowned. “Alright, fine. In all honesty, we came into this with barely much more than this to go on. And nobody ever bothered to tell us about Doflamingo’s involvement in this. I knew something was fishy about this whole situation, and now I know why.”

“So, your supervisors just handed you the coordinates to this island and told you to capture the factory? That sounds a little unfair.”

Smoker shrugged irritatedly. “Admiral Kinzaru can be a little...vague...sometimes. Like you said, I don’t think he knew the place was such a stronghold. He did give us a little intel about these new fruits themselves, though.”

Robin leaned forward again, interested. “Is that so? Do tell.”

“It seems that they’ve only been able to produce Zoan-type fruits so far,” Smoker explained. “And they aren’t entirely right, somehow. I mean, they’re not like normal Zoan powers. It seems that the people who eat these fruits can only transform parts of their bodies, and they don’t get to choose what parts. Obviously, like with regular devil fruit, those powers are only as dangerous as the people wielding them, but they are a definite advantage over your typical, non-powered marines. So. That’s why we were sent here.”

“Fascinating,” Robin said. “Do the artificial users have the same weaknesses as the rest of us?”

“I don’t know.” Smoker stifled a yawn, letting Robin know that she wasn’t the only one feeling tired. “Where are Coby and Tashigi, anyway?”

“They’re out with my crew. One group’s trying to see if there’s anything else to learn from the town, and the other is doing recon on the factory. Don’t worry,” she added, seeing him frown again, “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

 

“So, uh, Captain Tashigi, what made you join the marines?” Franky asked.

“Franky, some of us are trying to get some work done,” Nami snapped at him.

“It’s ok, I don’t mind,” Tashigi assured her. 

“I don’t really care whether you do or not.” Nami momentarily lowered her binoculars to give Tashigi an angry look. “But the sooner we get this intel, the sooner we can destroy this factory, and the sooner we can go our separate ways and not have to work together ever again.”

“No need to be hasty, Nami,” Brook chided. Had it not been for his large cloud of black hair, his entire head might have blended completely into the background of fresh snow. “Remember how we used to feel about Sanji?”

“Well, that’s a different situation,” Tashigi said. “Sanji isn’t actually a marine anymore.” The Songbirds shifted a little, thinking about what they knew about Sanji and Aokiji’s involvement. “Anyway,” Tashigi continued, oblivious, “I joined the marines because I wanted to help people. I used to think all pirates were criminals who needed to be punished, but recently my experiences with Vice Admiral Smoker have forced me to reevaluate that mindset a little. I mean, you guys and your captain don’t seem that bad.”

Franky snorted. “Well, I don’t think I’ll ever feel comfortable working with active marines, good intentions or not. But then again, I actually am a criminal, so maybe I’m a little prejudiced.”

“Oh, I hear you,” Nami said, her binoculars once again focused on the entrance to the factory. “My thief’s instincts are screaming at me right now to get out of this. I sure hope Captain Robin knows what she’s doing.”

“There’s the patrol,” Zoro spoke up suddenly. He’d been mostly quiet since they’d left the ship. Nami assumed that, like she and Franky, he was upset about the prospect of working with marines, and hadn’t commented on it. 

“Great, what’s the time?” she asked.

“Three minutes and forty-two seconds,” he answered, and Nami made a note in the notebook she habitually kept for planning heists.

“Ok people, I think we’ve done all we can here,” she said, standing up and brushing snow off her legs. “Let’s go report in. I need something hot to drink as soon as physically possible.”

They all followed her lead as she started to trudge through the snow back the way they’d come.

“Um, Zoro, right?” Tashigi asked, hurrying to catch up with the green-haired mercenary. 

“Yeah. What do you want?”

“I couldn’t help but notice, your swords. Is that...Sandai Kitetsu?”

Zoro blinked, taken aback. “Uh, yeah, it is, actually.” 

“No way,” Tashigi said, looking excited. “That blade is supposed to be cursed! Where did you get it? Has it worked well for you? Is it true that you’ve actually perfected Santoryu style?”

For a moment, Zoro appeared stunned speechless by the unexpected flood of questions. “Look, lady,” he said, “I don’t know you, and I don’t want to. Let’s just focus on the mission, ok?”

Without another word, he sped up, angrily shuffling through the snow, leaving Tashigi looking slightly confused and a bit crestfallen behind him.

“Hey, you ok?” Nami asked quietly as he came nearer to her. “I know this whole situation kinda sucks, but that was a little harsh.”

“I’m fine,” Zoro muttered, not looking at her. “She just...looks like someone, that’s all.”

Nami shrugged, deciding not to press the issue. “Stay behind me, idiot, or you’ll get lost in the snow.”

Zoro made a face, but slowed his pace a little nonetheless. “What do you think about the factory? Can we pull this off?”

“I don’t know for sure.” She glanced over her shoulder towards the base of the mountain. “But, we have a real chance, if these marines help us. I guess all we can do is try.”

 

“Hey guys, I think that guy is looking at us funny,” Coby whispered, looking uneasy. “That guy over there, see him?”

“Oh, calm down,” Sanji said. “If he’s looking at you funny, it’s not because he’s secretly planning to attack us, it’s because you look ridiculous.”

“You told me not to come out here dressed like a marine! What else was I supposed to do?”

“Coby, you’re wearing clothes we used as disguises in Alabasta! As in, desert kingdom Alabasta!”

“It was all I could find on your ship,” Coby said, self-consciously tugging at his disguise. 

Sanji sighed in exasperation. He could have been assigned to work with the lovely Tashigi, but noooo, instead Robin had sent him out with this bumbling fool. Between dealing with Coby and trying to keep Luffy from wandering off, Sanji’s patience was being severely tested. 

“Hey, we’re back,” Usopp’s voice interrupted Sanji’s irritated train of thought. 

“Learn anything new?”

“Nope,” Luffy said, and Usopp shook his head.

“How do the people of this town not know that there’s a huge factory run by pirates in the mountain?” Coby wondered aloud.

“I’m not convinced that they don’t know,” Chopper said. He was in his four-legged reindeer form, the better to make his way through the snow and the slippery streets of the little town. “I mean, no one has told us anything about the history of this town, or anything we didn’t already know. Maybe they do know, but they’re scared to tell us.”

“Maybe,” Sanji agreed, “but whatever the case, we’ve got nothing more to gain by being here. Let’s go tell the captain-”

“Yes?”

“No, not you Coby, Captain Nico! Let’s just go.”

They started walking back up the street, back towards the Starscape. 

“Hey Coby, do you really have to take your orders from that Smoker guy?” Usopp asked the young marine curiously. 

“Yeah, he seems hard to deal with,” Luffy said. “What do you do if you don’t want to do what he says?”

“Oh, Vice Admiral Smoker isn’t that bad once you get to know him,” Coby assured them, smiling. “He might not be that...um, open to discussion, where orders are concerned, but he is a good man. But I’ve only been travelling with him and Captain Tashigi for a little while; before that, I took all my orders directly from my mentor, Vice Admiral Garp.”

At this statement, Luffy burst out laughing, startling the others. “You must be stronger than you look, if you trained under my grandpa,” he said, grinning ear to ear. 

Sanji raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you were related to Garp, Luffy. That...actually explains a lot.”

“Your family sure is complicated,” Usopp told Luffy, and Chopper nodded vigorously.

“You know something, Sanji,” Coby said behind his hand, “I think I’m beginning to understand what made you leave the marines for life as a pirate. These people aren’t really bad at all.”

Sanji frowned. He knew there was no way Coby could know about his unique situation, but it still hurt to hear him assume so casually that Sanji had turned his back on the marines for selfish reasons. 

“They are good people,” he said, as much for his own benefit as for Coby’s. “Come on, guys,” he called out to the others, who had started to fall behind. “We’ve got a factory destruction to plan.”

 

One after the other, the two intelligence-gathering groups returned to the Starscape. The little galley was very cramped with all the pirates as well as the three marines crowded inside, but no one wanted to stay outside in the cold, so they put up with it. Sanji made them all hot tea, and they drank it while they shared their findings with Smoker and Robin.

“This is useless,” Smoker said, frustrated. “We can stare at the entrance all we want, we still have no idea what to expect once we get inside.”

“I’m not actually worried about that part,” Robin said, warming her hands on her cup of tea. “Everyone here is a talented fighter, and as long as we stick together, we should be able to take on whatever is in there.”

“Yeah, Vice Admiral, we can’t give up now!” Coby exclaimed.

“Nami, you said we have a three minute window between patrols, yes?”

“Three forty-two, Captain. More than enough time.”

“So we just get in there and start blowing up machinery,” Usopp said. “How hard could it be?”

“Trust us just this much,” Tashigi begged Smoker. “We don’t want to do this without you, Vice Admiral.”

Smoker threw up his hands. “Ok, ok, fine. How soon can we get this over with.”

“Well, I don’t see why we can’t go n-”

“After sunset,” Nami interrupted hastily. “That’s the best time to pull of this kind of infiltration. When they’ll be least expecting it, and when we have the best tactical advantage.”

Robin looked inquisitively at Nami, but then she shrugged. “Well, I trust your judgement on this, Nami. We can meet back here in a few hours to get ready. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Smoker stood up and motioned for his subordinates to follow suit. “We’ll head back to our own ship for now, but we’ll be back before sundown.”

The marines left the ship, and the Songbirds split up to spend their free time making their own preparations. All except for Robin, who went straight back to her bunk for a much-needed rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (There isn't actually much difference when they stage their attack on the factory, Nami just wanted Robin to be able to have that nap) Thanks for sticking with me through chapter 19!


	20. In Which Lives Are Spared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin's plan to destroy the factory is put into action.

“There’s the entrance, Captain,” Nami said, pointing out the enormous door in the side of the mountain.

“Good. Keep an eye out for the next patrol please, Nami.” Robin turned to the rest of her crew and their temporary marine allies. “Are we all clear on the plan?”

“We’ve been over the plan like ten times,” Zoro answered impatiently. “Let’s just get down there and blow this shit up already.”

“Yeah, let’s do this!”

“Luffy, keep your voice down!”

“All of you, shut up,” Smoker hissed threateningly. “At this rate, we’ll be lucky if the guards don’t notice us before we even start our attack. How have you idiots survived this long?!”

“Calm down Vice Admiral, or we wo-”

“Guards are in view,” Nami interrupted, effectively silencing the chatter from the others. 

“Alright, get ready,” Robin murmured. They waited tensely for the pair of patrolling guards to make their way around to the other side of the mountain. “Just a little more...Ok, now!”

At Robin’s signal they all stood and began hurrying down the snowy slope towards the factory entrance. The sun had fully set by then, but the sky was clear, and there was plenty of moonlight for them to see where they were going.

“Oh man, that’s an impressive door,” Franky said quietly as they approached it. “I know they’re the bad guys, but you’ve just gotta admire a door like that.”

“Wait, this isn’t part of the plan.” Usopp glanced between Robin and Smoker, looking nervous. “What are we supposed to do about the door?”

“Don’t sweat it, Usopp,” Coby said, stepping forward, rolling back his right sleeve. “I’ve got this one.”

He drew back his fist and punched, a blow so strong that Robin could feel the shock in the ground beneath her feet. Just that one punch left a huge dent in the giant steel door.

“Aaaawesoooome,” Luffy whispered elatedly.

“Weapons at the ready,” Smoker instructed. “Let’s get this done.”

Coby punched the door one more time, and this time it came right off its hinges, falling with an enormous thud. 

The moment it touched the ground, the pirates and marines rushed into the factory, bracing themselves for whatever awaited them inside.

The room they entered was absolutely huge. It was dimly lit inside, but there was enough light to see countless rows of assembly lines running the length of the room, some twisting and turning and feeding into each other, some disappearing through holes in the walls. 

There were many people in the room, evidently working at the assembly lines. All of them had stopped working and were staring at the opening where the door had previously stood. For a moment, neither side moved.

Then someone shouted, “intruders!”, a glaring alarm began to sound, and the workers abandoned their posts to charge the pirates and the marines.

“There, another door,” Robin shouted, pointing. “We’ll hold them off here as long as we can. You three get going, and make sure you keep your den den mushi lines open!”

“You got it, Captain!” Franky yelled, hefting the large bag of explosives they had brought with them over his shoulder. 

Without another word he, Smoker, and Usopp took off running, as they had planned beforehand. They headed for the door Robin had spotted, hoping to find a way deeper into the factory. 

“The rest of you, look sharp,” Robin continued, “we’ve got our work cut out for us here. We’re going all out for this one!”

“I hoped you’d say that,” Zoro shouted, grinning. Robin glanced over in time to see him run forward, swords raised, to meet the oncoming wave of opponents, Sanji and Luffy close on his heels.

Distracted for a moment, she barely had time to dodge as what appeared to be a cannonball came flying at her head. A second later she was forced to dodge again as someone swung a sword viciously at her head.

The fight very quickly disintegrated into total chaos. Robin was barely able to keep up as enemy after enemy lashed out at her in the dimness. She hoped the demolitions team would be able to get their work done before the situation became truly unsalvageable.

 

The second door led to a narrow hallway that turned and twisted deeper into the mountain. The three men with the bombs ran down the corridor, Smoker in the lead.

“Damn,” Franky muttered as one of his shoulders bounced off the wall with a loud metallic sound. “Look out for structural supports, or maybe some more doors.”

“Got it,” Usopp said. “How many do you think we’ll nee- Look out!”

Another door ahead of them burst open, and several armed factory workers emerged into the hallway. Usopp hastily raised his slingshot, but before he had a chance to fire a shot, a dense fog surrounded the workers, trapping them. 

“You two get in there,” Smoker yelled, hands raised in front of him. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Usopp and Franky hurried to the next door, which Franky closed behind them.

“Do you think he’ll be ok by himself?” Usopp asked nervously.

From outside they heard a mangled scream. “Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Franky said dismissively, moving forward to examine the new room they found themselves in. 

It was another big room with a lot of machinery in it, no better lit than the first room. But the machinery here was of a different type: there were fewer conveyor belts and more tubes and wires that all seemed to lead to the center of the room.

“You know what, this stuff looks important. Let’s just plant these in here.” Franky set his pack down heavily and unzipped it to reveal dozens of small round bombs that he and Usopp had made specifically for this mission.

“Will we be able to cause enough structural damage from just blowing up this one room?”

“Should be. We’re not trying to bring down the whole mountain, just this factory. Here, take some of these and get busy.”

Usopp grabbed an armful of the charges. He and Franky began circling the outer perimeter of the room, sticking the detonators to the walls at intervals.

Smoker entered the room a few moments later, seemingly unharmed. “How’s it going?” he called, locking the door.

“Got it covered, just watch our backs,” Usopp answered him from somewhere in the back of the room.

Smoker activated his portable den den mushi, keeping his eyes on the door. “Smoker to Captain Nico. What’s the situation like on your end?”

“Not great,” Robin’s voice reported. “There’s a lot more of them than there are of us, and they certainly know how to fight.”

“They’ve started planting the bombs, so it won’t be much longer now,” Smoker told her. “You might want to start getting everyone ready to pull out.”

“Copy that. Stay safe.” The line clicked off.

Outside, someone started banging on the locked door. Smoker scowled. “How much longer?” he yelled over his shoulder.

“Just a sec...ok, that should do it!” Franky and Usopp hurried back to where Smoker was, their hands and faces inexplicably covered in soot. 

“Good. Stand back,” Smoker said, gripping the door handle. The workers in the hall were surprised when the door suddenly burst open and a billowing cloud of dense smoke enveloped them. One man still managed to swing a sword at Smoker, but it passed right through him.

“Captain, we’re coming your way,” Usopp shouted over the den den mushi. 

They hurried back through the factory to the room they had first entered. It was quite a sight to see; nearly all the machinery had been wrecked in the fighting, and the floor was littered with debris. Some of the workers were lying on the ground, evidently unconscious, but most were still on their feet and fighting. 

“Hey!” Franky bellowed above the noise, his voice amplified by one of his many modifications. “Everyone stop fighting, or we’ll blow this place up right now!” Usopp took a step forward and held up the detonator where it could be plainly seen. 

Gradually, the action came to a stop, all eyes focused on Usopp, who was visibly trembling in fear. For a moment, no one moved.

“You...you’re bluffing,” called one man accusingly.

“I assure you we are not,” Robin said loudly. “We came to destroy this factory, and we intend to do so, no matter the cost.” Everyone’s attention shifted to her, at the center of the room with one sleeve of her jacket ripped and bloody. 

“No one has to die, though,” she continued boldly. “We’re offering you the chance to leave now, no conditions or anything.”

The workers shifted uneasily, whispering among themselves. Robin’s heart pounded in her ears. She didn’t want to kill any of these people, but if they didn’t take her offer, she didn’t see what other option they had.

“Th-this is your chance,” Usopp called. He flinched when the workers turned their attention back to him, but continued nonetheless. “You can leave this island. You can be free.”

There was a bit more whispering, and then, movement. The workers lowered their weapons and began moving towards the open doorway, some stooping to pick up their fallen comrades. They left the factory and vanished into the snowy night outside. 

Robin waited until they were all gone before giving the order for her own crew to leave the factory. All of them were fairly battered, but, miraculously, no one was seriously injured. They trudged through the snow, leaning on each other, until they were a safe distance from the base of the mountain.

With the press of a button, Usopp activated all the charges at once. From the outside the pirates and marines couldn’t see the force of the explosion tearing through the factory, but they could hear it. The bombs set off a small avalanche on the mountain, shaking loose a number of rocks and boulders. The doorway was buried in the rockslide, and just like that, all evidence that there had once been a factory inside the mountain was gone.

“I didn’t think that would actually work,” Zoro said, breaking the silence.

“Well, it did.” Smoker looked at Robin. “Your plan worked. Now we need to get going.”

“We couldn’t have done it without your help, Vice Admiral,” Robin told him, extending a hand.

Smoker hesitated for a second, then reached out to shake her hand. “As agreed, our superiors will hear nothing of your involvement here. But next time we meet…”

“We’ll be enemies again.” She smiled wryly. “Don’t worry, we’ll be ready for you.”

“Bye guys,” Coby called to the Songbirds, waving. “Thanks for all your help.”

“Yeah, we wish you the best,” Tashigi agreed. “Try not to get into too much trouble out there.”

“Come on you two, let’s get going,” Smoker snapped impatiently. His two subordinates hurried over to him. They turned and walked away, and within moments they too were obscured by the dark. 

“We should get going too,” Robin said wearily. “I know it’s late, but we really need to set sail before morning.”

They turned their backs on the mountain and started heading back to their ship.

“Hey Usopp,” Nami asked curiously, “how did you know what to say to those guys to get them to leave?”

Usopp looked down at the soot and grease on his hands. “That place was so dark and dirty. I don’t know, it just seemed to me like they were being kept there against their will.”

“You were right,” Robin said quietly. “Those were all former members of Doflamingo’s crew. My guess is that Big Mom took over his operations after he died, and forced his people to do her dirty work.”

Her words were met with an uncomfortable silence.

“Do you think we did the right thing?” Sanji asked. “Just letting them go like that?”

“Yes, I do. I think saving lives is always the right thing to do.”

“And we destroyed the fake devil fruit factory,” Luffy reminded her. 

“Indeed we did. We did very good work tonight, everyone. We’ll figure out our next move after we’ve had some time to rest.”

Once they made it back to the Starscape, they raised anchor and set sail immediately. Back on Karakuri island, it was several hours before anyone figured out they had even been there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting into a little bit of uncharted territory here again, but thanks for bearing with me and reading chapter 20! Still not totally happy with the way I write action scenes, but it seems to be getting a bit better, right?


	21. In Which is Heard a Plea for Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew returns to Water 7 after receiving a request for a meeting from an old friend.

The Songbird Pirates spent the next couple of weeks bouncing from island to island with no real destination. Sometimes if they spotted trouble they’d stop to help, but mostly they just tried to stay under the radar.

Amazingly enough, the situation in the Grand Line seemed to have calmed down a bit. Although the war was far from settled, the newspapers no longer brought them stories every day of huge battles and destruction everywhere.

“It’s like they’re having a staring contest,” Robin explained, waving her hand in a vague gesture intended to encompass all the different leaders involved in the conflict.

“I get what you’re saying,” Nami said, nodding. “They don’t want to fight, but they don’t want to back down either.”

“But...why are they not fighting anymore?” Luffy asked, his face making it clear that he still didn’t understand Robin’s explanation.

“Well, for one thing, there are simply too many sides to this.” Robin began ticking them off on her fingers. “The marines and the Warlords with them, the other Warlords just in it for themselves, Big Mom and Kaido, this Blackbeard character that just came out of nowhere… sure, a couple of them have already been killed off or been forced to back out of the fight, but the point remains that there are a lot.” 

“Most wars are fought with only two sides, right?”

“Yes, Chopper. Another issue is that not only are there many more than two parties involved in this conflict, but they are also spread so thin. It takes time to sail across half the Line. And even with den den mushi, it’s hard for a leader to understand the situation properly if they’re not actually there. So communication becomes a huge problem.” 

Robin paused to look at Luffy. He nodded, a look of intent concentration on his face.

“But that’s not the only reason. Do you remember when this whole thing started, and there were battles every day, both on land and at sea? If there were only two sides, that might still be going on. But each side in this particular case has had to fight every other side. Basically, they exhausted a lot of resources very early on by fighting too much, too often.”

“They stopped fighting because they’re tired?”

Robin smiled. “Something like that. But now they’ve learned their lesson, and they’re saving their strength.”

“I get it, I get it,” Chopper said excitedly. “They’re waiting to fight until they’re attacked first, but every side is doing that and no one is attacking, right?” 

“Very good Chopper, that’s exactly it. The lines have been drawn, and now it’s become a waiting game. Who knows how much longer it’ll go on for.”

“Hey Luffy,” Usopp called from the other side of the deck, “the News Coo brought a letter for you.”

“A letter?” Luffy asked curiously, taking the envelope Usopp handed to him. “Oh, it’s from Ace!”

“Firefist Ace?” Franky, Sanji, and Brook moved over to where the rest of their crew was gathered. Even Zoro approached, curious to see what the commotion was about. 

“I remember him,” Nami said, casually resting her chin in her hand. “Your other brother, who’s also not actually related to you, and didn’t want to join our pirate crew because he’s too busy being a pirate. He sure was cute though.”

“What does he say, Luffy?” Robin asked.

“He wants to meet up. He wants to talk to you, Captain.” Luffy extended the letter to Robin, who took it and scanned it quickly.

“Well,” she said thoughtfully. “This poses something of a problem.”

“You don’t want to?” Luffy asked, his face falling.

“No, I didn’t say that. Of course I’ll at least hear him out, Luffy. But we can’t impose on the Revolution again for something like this. We need a secure place to meet up.”

“How about we go back to Alabasta?” Zoro suggested. “No one to hear us out in the middle of the desert.”

“Alabasta isn’t exactly neutral territory though,” Nami pointed out. “He’s one of Whitebeard’s crew, right?”

“Let’s go to Water Seven,” Franky said. “I’ve been meaning to ask about going there anyway, to check up on my gang.”

“That might work,” Robin said, trying to remember everything she had read about Water Seven. “That island isn’t associated with any of the major powers in this war, and I think they were attempting to stay out of the conflict.”

Franky snorted. “Yeah, that sounds right. The mayor there... well, let’s just say he’s not really one for fighting.”

“I’m not against it,” Brook said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been to that island, but even on my first journey through the Line fifty years ago it was a place of innovations and learning.”

The rest of the crew agreed, and Robin declared the matter settled. “Luffy, write a response to Ace,” she instructed. “Tell him we will see him at the city of Water Seven. It shouldn’t take us more than three days to get there. Franky can give you the details of where exactly we’ll meet him.”

 

The journey to Franky’s home island proved to be fairly uneventful. They didn’t even see another ship on the way, for a change. It was nice not having to worry about a potential fight in the middle of the ocean for a few days.

For one reason or another, most of the crew was looking forward to a stop in Water Seven. Sanji wanted to pick up some special cooking ingredients. Luffy wanted to ride the water bulls. Franky was just excited to be going home, even for a little while.

“Impressive as always,” Nami said as they approached, shading her eyes for a better look at the city.

“You’ve been here before, Nami?” Chopper asked.

“Yeah, there’s this great place here for exchanging gold into cash. They don’t ask too many questions, if you know what I mean.” She winked.

“You’re gonna love it, Chopper,” Usopp said. “The troupe stopped by here a few times. It’s a real nice place.”

“Yeah, it’s great here,” Luffy agreed enthusiastically. “There’s water everywhere, and it’s so pretty. It’s ‘cause the city was sinking, right Robin?”

“That’s what I’ve read. I’m afraid I don’t know too much about this particular island though.”

“Wha- you’ve never been here?”

“I’m afraid not. What with the bounty on my head, and the nature of the work I’ve done throughout my life, it always seemed more prudent to stay away from an island in such proximity to Enies Lobby. I admit I have always wanted to visit, however.”

Franky laughed. “Glad to be of service, Captain. This island is right up your alley, too. There’s good folk here, if you can look hard enough to find them.”

They tied the Starscape off at a dock on the western side of the island, and then let Franky lead them into the city. Robin was intrigued by the unique architecture and fascinated by the people she saw; it was truly a refreshing experience for her, to be peacefully sightseeing in a new place, especially in a time of war.

They followed Franky as he strode confidently into the heart of the city. After a few minutes he stopped in front of a seemingly normal restaurant and announced, “well, here we are!”

“Your secret hideout...is a pasta restaurant?” Nami asked skeptically.

“No, of course not,” Franky said, pulling open the door. “Our hideout is under the restaurant.”

They entered the building after the cyborg. Inside was an assortment of tables and chairs, most of them unoccupied at this time of morning. There was a bar along one wall, and a young man behind it polishing glasses who looked up as they came in.

“Ah, Mr. Franky!” he said excitedly. “We weren’t expecting you...but, it’s so good to see you, sir! Does this mean your journeys are at an end?”

“‘Fraid not, Mantel. We’re just visiting. Anybody home downstairs?”

“Yes sir, most of the others are currently here,” Mantel said, glancing apprehensively at the others.

“Thanks.” Franky moved towards the back of the restaurant, and the pirates followed. Another door led to a flight of spiral stairs that twisted downward beneath the ground level. The distant sounds of conversation reached their ears, growing louder as they descended.

“We helped Mantel out a few years ago when he ran into some problems with some nasty loan sharks,” Franky explained as they walked. “He lets us stay here, and in return we protect him and his business. Nice trade off, huh?”

“How is it that this basement hasn’t become flooded?” Robin asked curiously.

“This place is old, way old. The rooms we use now were once at the center of a much bigger building. We’ve had to patch it up quite a bit, sure, but it’s held so far. One day, when they build the next layer, we’ll need to move, but for now this works out just fine.”

The spiral staircase ended, and the pirates emerged into a very large, crowded room. Many more doors were visible around the room, presumably leading deeper into the Franky Gang’s basement lair.

There was a lot of activity in the room. Everyone there seemed to be busy with something or other. But after a few moments, someone noticed them and yelled, “hey everyone, the Boss is back!”

All movement in the room came to an abrupt stop as the gang members swiveled around to see for themselves. When they saw Franky, they cheered and clapped, clearly very happy to see him.

“Settle down now, settle down!” Franky yelled over the noise, raising his massive hands. “Alright, I know I didn’t give you guys any warning, but long story short, I’m just here for a visit. My crew and I have a lot of work to do out in the Line, and we’re not done yet. But I’ll be here for a couple days at least. This woman,” he said, gesturing to Robin, “is my Captain, and I expect you all to treat her as you would me. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Boss!” came the unanimous response from the assembled gangsters.

“Good. We’re expecting a guest in a little while, so if he shows up, someone bring him to the meeting room. In the meantime, you’ve all got your work to do, so get back to it! C’mon,” he added to his crew members, “this way.”

“Wow Franky,” Usopp said once they had closed the door of the meeting room behind them, “I didn’t know you were such a respected leader around here!”

“Yeah, quite the operation you’ve got going on here,” Nami agreed. “Why give this up to go pirating?”

“Same reason as any of us, I imagine,” Franky said, sitting down hard on one of the patched-up couches in the room. “I wanted to do some good for once. Plus, I really needed a new adventure. I don’t really think I’m cut out for leadership, especially in this city.”

“I want to ask what your gang does, but I’m afraid to hear the answer,” Sanji said, also sitting down.

Franky grinned. “Hard to teach an old marine new tricks, eh? Don’t worry, we steer clear of most of the worst stuff. Just your average bribery, theft, and the occasional armed holdup. Not like we run drugs or anything like that.”

“Mmhmm,” Sanji answered, not looking convinced. Nami, on the other hand, looked thrilled.

They spent some more time simply relaxing on the couches, listening to Franky describe the life of the leader of a gang of outlaws. It wasn’t long before one of Franky’s men opened the door and announced that their guests had arrived.

Ace entered the room, looking a little apprehensive at first, and then relieved when he recognized their faces. Another man, a stranger to Robin, followed him inside, clearly feeling a little out of place.

Luffy jumped up to give his brother a tight hug, which Ace returned earnestly.

“Hey little bro, how you been doing?” Ace ruffled Luffy’s hair playfully.

“Great! It’s good to see you again, Ace.” 

“Yeah, I’m glad too.” Ace broke off his embrace with Luffy and looked over at Robin. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with us, Captain Robin. I know how busy you guys are.”

“Fortunately, you caught us at a good time,” Robin said, inclining her head. “Please, tell us what’s on your mind.”

“Sure. Uh, this is Marco, by the way. He’s one of my crewmates.”

“‘Sup,” Marco said, raising a hand in casual greeting. “Ace tells me you guys might be able to help us out.”

“It’s about our captain.” Ace explained, the smile slipping from his face once more. “We think he’s in trouble.”

“Sit down,” Robin said gently, pointing to a couch they’d left unoccupied. “Take it from the beginning. Tell us everything.”

Ace moved over and sat tentatively on the edge of the couch. Marco merely leaned against the arm, hands in his pockets.

“Our captain is a good man,” Ace said seriously. “I want you all to understand that, before anything. He is. He’s like a father to us, really.”

“But he’s also one of the Four Emperors,” Marco put in, “and he didn’t get there just by taking in strays like us.”

Robin nodded. “We’ve been following this war very closely, you know. We’re aware of what your captain’s been up to.”

Ace sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. He looked much more tired than the last time Robin had seen him. “Yes. The war. We knew it was pointless to try to talk him out of fighting, so we agreed that we’d go along with it, and just try to protect him as much as we could.”

“He’s old,” Marco said quietly. “And sick. But he still thinks he’s young and healthy.”

“To be honest, I think he took this whole situation as some sort of personal insult. ‘They thought they could have a war and leave me out! How dare they!’”

“‘Who do they think they are, forming alliances and such without us!’”

“‘Don’t worry boys, we’ll show ‘em we’re still a force to be reckoned with!’” Ace chuckled mirthlessly. “So we went to war. And we fought real hard, for a while. But now things have changed.”

“Because everyone’s waiting,” Chopper said knowledgeably.

Ace looked at him, a little taken aback. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way of putting it. Pops would rather still be fighting, of course, but we kinda...can’t afford to right now. That last attack by Blackbeard and his crew really hit us hard. That guy really has it out for us for some reason.”

“By this point, even the Captain has been forced to admit that we need to give this up,” Marco explained. “But like Ace said, we don’t think Blackbeard will be willing to just drop it.”

“I don’t have much information about Blackbeard,” Robin said musingly, “but I believe you’re right. So? Why come to us?”

The two men exchanged glances. “We want you to attack us,” Ace said, “so we can fake Whitebeard’s death.”

His words were greeted with surprised silence from the Songbirds.

“Hold on. Did it maybe escape your notice that we’re a crew of nine people, and your captain is one of the fucking Emperors?” Zoro demanded incredulously.

“So what? You guys are good enough to make this believable,” Ace insisted. “You took down the Thundergod by yourselves. And that factory on Karakuri, that was you, right?”

“We had help with that one, actually.”

“Doesn’t matter. Everyone knows what you’ve done, and frankly at this point it wouldn’t be that unexpected for you to attack one of the Emperors.”

“With that line of reasoning, why not ask us to attack this Blackbeard dude?” Nami asked.

“I know you guys didn’t set out on this mission of yours to kill anyone, and I’m trying to respect that.” Ace grimaced. “Also, I’m concerned that Pops would just find another reason to get himself into some other kind of trouble. But if everyone thinks he’s dead…”

“He’ll be forced to keep up the illusion,” Robin said. “That makes sense.”

“Captain?” Sanji asked hesitantly. “Could this even be possible?”

Robin sat quietly for a moment, thinking hard. “With enough time to plan, I believe so. But I don’t want to go through with it if we don’t all agree. Are there any objections?”

They shook their heads. “We trust you, Captain,” Brook said.

“Very well then. Ace, Marco, we’ll set sail in the morning.”

Ace stood up, looking extremely relieved. “Thank you. Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to us, Robin.”

“No need to thank us,” Robin told him. “It’s our job to help people, and that’s what we intend to do.” She smiled wryly. “Even if the one we’re helping is one of the Four Emperors.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, the original draft of this au called for Franky to be a lot edgier than he is in canon. But I don't think it's really come across that way very much in practice...Franky is such a charismatic person, it's hard to change him. Thanks for reading!


	22. In Which Bonds are Strengthened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone on the Starscape has a different way of preparing for a mission, and a different way of coping with whatever negative feelings they may have.

The night after the meeting, while the rest of his crew slept soundly in their bunks aboard the Starscape, Franky went to the train station.

It was closed for the night, of course. That didn’t really matter to Franky. He liked to see the station when it was open and full of people, but it was also nice to come sometimes when it was quiet and just sit on a bench by himself.

It was the only place left for him where he felt really connected to his past.

A voice behind him interrupted his thoughts. “Franky,” was all it said, more of a statement than a question.

Franky sighed. “Go away,” he said without turning around. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Too bad.” The man the voice belonged to moved closer, his steps echoing on the tile floor. “If you really wanted to avoid me, you shouldn’t have come here.”

He walked around and planted himself directly in front of Franky. Even in the dark, his disapproving frown was somehow clearly visible.

“What do you want, Iceberg?” Franky asked quietly.

“I want to know what you’re doing back on my island,” Iceberg snapped, crossing his arms. “If you plan to cause trouble here-”

“We don’t.” Franky interrupted curtly. “We’re leaving in the morning. And besides, we don’t ‘cause trouble,’ we help people.”

“If you don’t think I’m familiar with your recent escapades, you’re wrong. I know what you and those pirates you associate with have been up to. I won’t let you bring your war here.”

“Oh, shut up,” Franky said, a little louder than he meant to. He took a deep breath. “You don’t know what we’ve been through, Iceberg, and I won’t stand for you insulting my crew.”

“Alright, alright, fine.” Iceberg sat down on the bench next to Franky, and for a moment the two were silent.

“It’s gotten worse without you here,” Iceberg said. “That gang of yours has gotten more violent. This sort of thing can’t go on long without someone being hurt.”

“I’ll talk to them before I go.” Franky glanced down at Iceberg, but the darkness made his expression hard to read. “You know I that’s not what I want, right? You know I’d never condone that sort of thing.”

“I thought I knew. But lately I’m not sure I ever really knew you at all.”

Franky sighed again, but didn’t bother responding. He knew better than to rise to Iceberg’s taunting. Instead he went back to staring at the train tracks, barely visible by the moonlight of a nearby window.

“I don’t know if you’d heard,” Iceberg said, breaking the silence yet again, “but I lost some of my workers recently. One day they were just gone; we learned later that they were actually undercover marines who were called away to fight in the war.” He made an irritated noise. “Anyway, the point is, the Galley La Company could really use your talents right about now.”

“You want me to come back and work under you? No way. I already told you I’m leaving again in the morning.”

“Well, at least I’m trying here, Franky!” Iceberg stood up, fists balled at his sides. “First you start an illegal gang, then you run off with a crew of ragtag strangers to go pirating-”

“I thought I told you not to insult them!” Franky shouted, standing up too. He towered over the other man.

Iceberg wasn’t intimidated. “I worry about you out there,” he told Franky quietly. “I’d feel better if you stayed on Water Seven.”

Franky suddenly realized he didn’t remember when he’d made the modifications that made him taller than Iceberg. He didn’t even remember if he’d been taller than him before he started adding cyborg attachments to himself.

“...I already told you, we’re leaving again in the morning. We won’t be back anytime soon, so don’t worry; your precious city will be safe as long as we’re not here, right?”

Franky turned and walked away without waiting for an answer, leaving Iceberg behind, standing alone in the dark.

 

Robin woke her crew early in the morning, as soon as there was light enough to get underway. They set sail towards Whitebeard’s location without further ado, with the aid of an eternal log pose provided by Marco. 

“I wanted t’ stay longer,” Luffy mumbled sleepily over breakfast. “I didn’ get to ride any water bulls after all…”

“I would’ve liked to stay a little longer myself,” Robin admitted. “Perhaps we’ll be able to return one day for an extended visit.”

“This food is so good, what the hell!” Ace exclaimed loudly.

“There’s plenty more where that came from,” Sanji said, looking a little pleased with himself.

Marco shook his head. “This is what the renowned Songbird Pirates do, huh? Sit around eating sandwiches? You guys are totally different from what people say about you after all.”

“Hey, this isn’t all we do,” Zoro said, sounding vaguely insulted. 

“Shut up, Zoro. Marco, you said there are people talking about us?” Nami leaned forward, eyes gleaming. “Ohh, do tell.”

“Most of our crew seem to think that you guys meet in dark alleyways at midnight to plot who to attack next.”

“Yohohoho, we seem to have unknowingly garnered quite the grim reputation!”

“Yeah, to hear them tell it, you guys are like some kind of demons or something. Some have even heard a rumor somewhere that you guys were the ones who secretly conspired with Crocodile to get Doflamingo killed.”

Usopp snorted. “Well, uh, that one’s not entirely untrue…It was an accident, though!”

Ace choked on a bite of food. “You what? How do you accidentally kill one of the Seven Warlords and start a huge pirate war?!”

Robin laughed. “As always, people tend to fear the unknown. I actually hoped something like this would happen.” 

She stood, picking up her empty breakfast dishes. “Well, I have work to do. It will take me a few hours to sort through all the relevant information for this case, so if you’ll excuse me… I’ll be in my quarters if anyone needs me.”

Ace watched her leave. “Is that normal?”

“You mean for her to spend hours alone researching and coming up with a plan?” Nami nodded. “Entirely so, for her.”

“The Captain is the one who does most of the preparation and coordination work for most of our missions,” Sanji said, cleaning dishes at the sink. “We just go where she tells us and fight whoever gets in our way.”

“Damn.” Marco looked around the table, eyebrows raised. “I’m starting to think you guys actually are some kind of demon crew or something.”

“Thanks, Marco!”

“I didn’t mean that as a compliment.”

 

After breakfast, everyone split up to do their own things while they waited for Robin to finish her research. It was a situation they’d become very accustomed to by this point in their journies.

“Seems like it’s been a while since our last little training session,” Nami said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“I meant to ask, how did you do during the fight in the factory?”

“Oh man, that was crazy. Admittedly, I stayed as close to the Captain as possible, but I think I did alright. Only got hit three times.”

Zoro nodded thoughtfully. “Good. I think you’re ready to spar with me for real.”

“Wait, really?” Nami looked nervous at the thought. “I’ve only been using this thing for a little while, you know. Weren’t you like, born with a sword in your hand or something? Why don’t you spar with Sanji, or Brook?”

“The last time I sparred with the marine, we nearly destroyed the ship and the Captain yelled at us. As for Brook, it’s not like either of us can really gain anything from fighting each other. He’s pretty good, and I already know how to fight someone using one sword. But you need more combat experience, and I’ve never fought anyone using a halberd before.”

“Well, ok, but you’d better take it easy on me.” Nami raised her weapon in front of her cautiously. 

“You’ll be fine,” Zoro said dismissively, also readying his swords.

They began to circle each other, slowly. Nami focused on remembering everything she had learned, trying to distract herself from her uneasy feelings.

Suddenly Zoro rushed her, swords flashing. She reacted quickly, blocking his blows with her halberd, filling the otherwise deserted deck with the sounds of clashing steel.

 

Luffy found Marco near the stern of the ship, just watching the waves.

“Hey Marco, do you know where Ace is?”

“Oh, hey Luffy. Ace went back to sleep after breakfast, actually.” He cocked his head, seeing Luffy’s face fall. “Want me to go wake him up?”

“No, that’s fine. He’s seemed tired lately, so I guess we should let him sleep.”

“Yeah. We’re all tired, honestly.”

Luffy hesitated for a moment, then approached and sat down next to the older man. “Robin says that fighting the war made everyone tired, and now they’re all resting until they’re strong enough to fight again.”

Marco nodded. “Nico Robin is a wise woman. I’m glad Ace decided to contact her.” He turned and looked at Luffy. “If this works, and you guys are able to help us, we won’t have to fight anymore. We can wait this war out in peace.”

“I hope we can make it work, too.” Luffy wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his cheek on a knee. “Your Captain seems like a cool guy. At least, Ace cares about him a lot.”

Marco smiled. “He’s told me a lot about you, you know.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, ‘course. He brags about his little brother all the time. Oh man, and once he figured out that Sabo was still alive, we had to listen to twice as much Big Brother Talk.” Marco shook his head, chuckling. “Ace is proud of you, Luffy.”

Luffy beamed. “Thanks, Marco. I’m just glad he has a new family, one that cares about him as much as he deserves.” 

“Sure, kid. You were his family first. Hey, is it true that you ate your devil’s fruit when you were only seven years old?”

“Haha, yeah. I was hungry, and I thought it was a normal fruit.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine having powers at that age.”

“You have powers too, Marco?”

Marco held up a hand, allowing curling blue flames to begin flickering all around his fingers. “Mythical Zoan fruit. I can change into a phoenix.”

Luffy’s eyes positively shone. “Awesome.”

 

Sanji sat alone at the table in the galley, staring at a den den mushi. He’d been trying to decide whether or not to make a call for the last ten minutes, but the arguments just seemed to chase each other in circles in his head.

He huffed in frustration. He wanted to make this call. He did. He was going to do it. He was going to do it right now, before he could change his mind again!

He hurriedly reached out and pressed the button, then waited anxiously for the line to pick up on the other end.

It rang and rang. Sanji was already starting to regret this.

Finally, there was a click and a familiar voice said, “That you, Captain Vinsmoke?”

“Yes, sir. Just checking in, as ordered.”

“Good, good.” There was the sound of a muffled yawn from the other end of the line. “How are you and your crew members holding up out there?”

“Very well, sir. Almost unexpectedly so.”

“I’ll say. Unexpected sure is the right word. I’ve been following your progress very closely, and I gotta say, when I gave you this assignment, I had no idea the scope of what Nico Robin would be able to accomplish.”

“She’s working on a new plan right now. Probably the craziest one yet.”

“Stop right there; I don’t even want to know. I’m sure I’ll read about it in the papers later.” Aokiji paused. “Are you sure you’re alright, Vinsmoke? You sound preoccupied.”

“Well, I guess there’s just a lot on my mind, sir.”

“Is this about the Germa 66? I mean, there’s not a lot I can do to change that situation, but-”

“No sir, that’s not it. I trust the marines to handle that situation as they see fit.”

“That’s good. What’s bothering you, then?”

Sanji hesitated. “Well...the truth is, Admiral, we met some other marines recently. And… they all made a point to mention how they felt about my ‘desertion’.”

“Ohh, I see. You wish you could tell them the truth, is that it?”

“Yes sir.” Sanji sighed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. “I guess I’ve just been wondering if I will really be able to return to being an active soldier when this is over, especially if my comrades won’t trust me.”

“Don’t worry about them,” Aokiji said firmly. “Listen Vinsmoke, you’ve always been an outstanding soldier. I wouldn’t have agreed to mentor you if I didn’t see potential in you. Lately you’ve been in some really extraordinary circumstances is all.If and when you decide you want to come back, there will always be a place for you here. The decision isn’t up to me though, or your fellow soldiers, or anyone else. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. Loud and clear.”

“Good. Don’t stress about it, and try not to get killed out there.”

Another click, and the line disconnected. Sanji was left alone in the galley once again, unsure if he felt any better than he had before.

 

“Franky? You in here?” Usopp stuck his head into the big cyborg’s room. “Hey man, there you are. Chopper, Brook, and I were going to play cards, but we need a fourth person. You want in?”

Franky looked up from the small gadget he was tinkering with. “Oh, uh, maybe later, Usopp. I’m kinda not in the mood right now.”

“Is everything ok?” Usopp asked, frowning. Franky had his dark sunglasses on, so it was hard to tell, but Usopp got the distinct feeling that he was upset about something.

“Yeah, of course. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine. Did...did something happen on Water Seven?” No response. “C’mon, you can tell me.”

Franky sighed. “It’s really nothing, I swear. Just got into an old argument with...someone I used to be close with.”

“If it were important, you would tell me, right?” Usopp pressed him. “Or if not me, the Captain?”

“Of course I would. But this is just nonsense personal stuff. You wouldn’t be interested.”

“You shouldn’t think that way. We care about you, dude.” 

“I know Usopp. Thanks. But I really just don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ok. You know where to find me if you change your mind. In the meantime, you should come play cards with us. It’ll cheer you up. Plus, the winning team gets first dibs on the nice bottle of sake we picked up in the city.”

“...You don’t mean sake from that little shop with the blue awning, by any chance?”

Usopp grinned. “The very same.”

Franky laughed. “Alright, I’ll play. But only if I don’t have to team up with you, your poker face is horrible.”

“Oh, it’s so on now!”

The two made their way down the hall to where their friends were waiting, Franky’s tinkering project left abandoned on his bunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there wasn't any actual plot this chapter, I just really REALLY enjoy platonic interactions between the crew and the other people they care about.


	23. In Which the Preparations Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin and the crew must come up with a plan to defeat their strongest opponent yet.

It was late evening by the time Robin finally emerged from her quarters. The rest of the crew and their two passengers were eating dinner out on the deck, as they sometimes did when the weather was fair, when she made her appearance.

Chopper spotted her first. “Hey, the Captain’s back,” he said cheerfully, alerting everyone else to her presence.

“Finally!” Sanji hurried to fix her a plate. “You’ve hardly eaten all day. You must be starving!”

“Oh, thank you, Sanji,” Robin said. She looked very tired, and her hair was sticking up in the back from all the times she’d run her fingers through it while she worked. Ace and Marco, seeing her in this state for the first time, were a bit concerned.

Robin accepted the plate Sanji handed her and began took a large bite. Everyone watched, waiting for her to speak.

“What happened, Nami? You’re covered in scratches. Are you ok?”

“It’s nothing,” Nami said irritatedly. “I’m perfectly fine. Tell us, Captain! Did you come up with a plan?”

“No,” Robin said. The assembled pirates all groaned in unison. “Well, there’s no need to sound so upset. I have the beginnings of a plan, but I’ll need quite a bit of help to fill in the holes.”

“Well you could have just said so,” Usopp told her. “Tell us what you came up with, Captain.”

“Alright. But first, a question, gentlemen,” she said, looking at Ace and Marco. “Am I correct in assuming that the Whitebeard Pirates are currently at sea?”

“Yes, that’s right. We’ve got a couple of ships.”

“Right then, our first order of business should be figuring out a way to get Whitebeard on land somewhere.”

Franky raised an eyebrow. “Why land? Why can’t we attack him on his ship?”

“Because we need to have control of the area where this fight takes place. Whitebeard is strong, and I’m not about to take any chances with this. Also, I want there to be witnesses.”

Ace cocked his head. “Wait, I’m confused. Are you… are you saying you’re really going to fight with Pops?”

Robin raised an eyebrow. “You asked us to attack him, didn’t you?”

“No, we asked you to help him fake his death!”

“Oh, I see. You assumed we would tell him about this plan before acting.”

“Of course!” Ace was starting to look worried. “How else could this possibly work? If you attack him for real, he’s going to treat you like a real enemy and send the entire crew after you. That’s suicide!”

Robin shook her head. “It would never be believable if he was in on it beforehand. There’s really no question about it. I was under the impression that that was the reason why you didn’t tell him where you were going before you left.”

“No,” Marco said, “we didn’t tell him because there was no way he’d agree to it, unless we were able to present him with a foolproof plan.”

“Well, the important thing here is that he doesn’t know. You didn’t tell any of your other crewmates, did you? Good, then we can proceed as before.”

Ace opened his mouth to protest again, but Luffy put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s ok, Ace. Trust us.”

“So,” Robin continued, “we get him to a populated island somehow. It’ll have to be a very specific location, though, because we’re going to set up some traps before we attack.”

“Traps, Captain?”

“Yes. I told you, we’re not taking any chances. We’ll need all the help we can get for this fight.” Robin looked around at each of her crewmates intently. “This is going to be hard. For us to pull this off, we’ll need to be very careful. It won’t work unless we are able to control every aspect of the fight, from start to finish. But if anyone can pull it off, we can. Do I have your support?”

“Yes, Captain!” they chorused. Marco nodded, and after a moment’s hesitation, so did Ace.

Robin smiled. Even as tired and disheveled as she was, her smile was confident and bright. It was convincing.

“Well then. We’ve got work to do.”

 

They spent the rest of the evening brainstorming. Robin split them into groups, each with an individual topic to focus on, while she herself sat apart, writing everything down and trying to string the various ideas into a cohesive and feasible plan. 

As the only two members of Whitebeard’s crew onboard, Marco and Ace had been tasked with thinking of a way to get their Captain to a nearby island. So far, it was not going well.

“Nothing,” Ace said, his voice muffled due to the fact that he was laying down with his hands over his face. “I’ve got nothing. No ideas. Absolutely nothing.”

“C’mon, Ace, we’ve got to think of something.”

“We’ve been at this for twenty minutes, and I can’t think of a single thing! How is it that they’re so good at this?” He waved a hand exasperatedly at where Franky, Nami, and Usopp sat chatting happily about the best mechanisms to use in order to (nonlethally) put an opponent out of commision. 

“Focus. When was the last time we saw Pops on land?”

“I already told you, I think it was a few years ago. I don’t remember! He always just stays on the ship, and whenever we need supplies, someone goes out to get them.”

“Ok, well, why did he go that time?”

“Mmmmm, I think it was because of that guy… remember, there was a guy, who was disrespecting us, or something?”

“Oh, I do remember that, actually,” Marco said. The incident had indeed happened several years ago; one of the leaders of an island in Whitebeard’s territory had made a huge show of not paying their traditional tribute, claiming they would make their island independent again. Whitebeard had had to handle the situation personally, but in the end the islanders had learned the hard way what happened when you angered one of the Four Emperors.

“I don’t think we can use that in this situation,” he told Ace.

“Yeah yeah, I know.” Ace sighed. “The thing is, I don’t think he’ll budge unless it’s for a fight. But Robin says we can’t tell him that she wants to fight him, so…”

Marco rubbed his chin, thinking hard. “Wait a minute, what if we tell him it’s to fight someone else? That should be fine, right?”

“You’ve lost me, Marco.”

“Just hear me out here. We tell him that while we were away, we found out where Blackbeard is hiding out, and that we can mount a surprise attack on him.”

Ace sat up. “That actually makes sense. Oh, and then when we get there, it’ll seem like the Songbirds fed us false information in order to lure Pops out!”

“That’s it! That’s perfect.”

The waved Robin over and told her what they’d come up with. She listened intently, but when they finished she nodded, smiling. 

“I think that will do nicely. Nice work, you two. We still need one thing from you, however.”

“What’s that?”

“A location. You guys know the islands in the area, so we’ll leave it to you to pick where we’ll set up our traps. Any preferences for the terrain?” she called out to the other groups scattered around the deck.

“Sand,” Sanji said loudly, “sand would be good. Or dirt, I guess.”

“Don’t forget,” Brook piped up, “it has to be near a town or a city. We want people to see this.”

“And, oooooh, if you can find us a place with some steep hills, or maybe waterfalls, that would be ideal,” Nami said, while Franky and Usopp nodded earnestly.

“There you have it.” Robin shrugged. “As I said, we don’t know the area, so this is totally up to you two, but I trust you to come up with something good.” She walked away, scribbling in her notebook, to check in on another group.

Ace groaned and laid back down. “Back to square one,” he said.

 

Over the next few days, their grand plan began to take shape. Piece by piece they put it together, working in groups and bouncing ideas off each other until things started to make sense.

“This plan is crazy,” Marco told the Songbirds. “I can’t believe you’re really going to try this.”

“If it were any less crazy, I don’t think it would work,” Sanji said.

“Yeah, crazy has worked well for us so far,” Brook joked. “No reason to stop now.”

Once they had an idea of what they wanted to do, they started making real preparations. This included stopping at several islands to buy supplies for their traps. Franky did most of the actual building work on those, but the others helped out in whatever way they could.

“Why are you doing this?” Ace asked one day while they worked.

“Because otherwise this part won’t move properly, and then the whole thing won’t work.”

“No, I mean why are you going to such lengths to help us?”

“Oh. Well, you asked us to! And the Captain wasn’t against it, so, why wouldn’t we?” Franky said, like it was obvious.

“I don’t know too many people who’d be willing to risk their lives for a crew of strangers just for that.”

“Look Ace,” Usopp said, “a couple of months ago I was a trapeze artist in a traveling circus. No one ever asked me for anything back then, because I wouldn’t have been able to give them any help.”

“Yeah, and I was a cat burglar living off what I could steal,” Nami told him. “No one asked me for help either. Who’d want help from a thief?”

“Exactly. The point is, Ace, we’re all here now. You guys need our help, and this time we actually have the ability to do something to help. So we will.”

Robin wanted those with powers, along with Zoro and Sanji (as the crew’s strongest, non-powered fighters), to spend less time working on the traps and more time training.

“You guys are very good,” she told them, assembled on the deck one afternoon, “and you’ve all made substantial progress since we’ve been together, but there is always room for improvement.”

“What did you have in mind, Captain?”

“How about some good old-fashioned team exercises?”

Zoro snorted. “Just like old times. Should I go fetch the paint and the wooden swords?”

“Very funny, Zoro. Chopper, Luffy, and Brook, you three are a team. Zoro and Sanji, you’re with me.”

“You’re going to fight, too?” Luffy asked Robin.

“Yes, I am. I think you guys have outgrown the need to have me direct your every move by now.”

“Captain, do I really have to be on a team with-”

“Yes, you do. And I expect both of you to work together, just I expect you to work together to complete this mission. It’s time to put aside your differences, boys. Remember why you’re doing this. Am I clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Zoro and Sanji answered.

“Good. In that case, let’s get started, shall we? Chopper, take it easy on the rumble balls, it wouldn’t do for you to wear yourself out before we even get there.”

“Are you sure we should be using real weapons, Captain?” Brook asked tentatively. 

“Absolutely so, Brook.” Robin smiled slyly. “If you are under the impression that I won’t be able to keep up with you, by all means...” she shifted into a fighting stance. “Try me.”

 

Several days passed in this way. The Starscape sailed on, getting closer to Whitebeard all the time.

Late one evening, when they were enjoying a brief rest from their work, Ace suddenly clapped his hands together, startling the others.

“I’ve got it,” he said excitedly. “Brayen, Marco. Brayen is the perfect place.”

Marco blinked. “Brayen? Is that the island with the...Oh,” he said, a smile spreading across his face, “ooooh, yeah. You’re absolutely right, Ace.”

“I can’t believe we didn’t think of this before!”

“Brayen? Never heard of it,” said Nami, standing up to go and fetch one of her maps.”

“Trust me, I think you’ll like it.” Ace grinned. “Finally thought of something good!”

Robin also stood up, moving so she could read the map over Nami’s shoulder. “Hm,” she said thoughtfully. “Interesting choice.”

“Can we use it, Captain?”

“I think we can.” Robin looked up at Ace and Marco. “Good work, gentlemen. You’ve done more than enough. Leave the rest to us. We are going to make sure your captain and your crew don’t have to take any further part in this absurd war.”

“Thank you,” said Marco, quietly but sincerely.

“Nami, how soon can we get there?”

“We’re close. I can have us there by tomorrow morning if we go full sail.”

“Fantastic. Did you all hear that? Be ready first thing tomorrow, because we’re finally getting this going!”

The Songbirds cheered. Marco shook his head, smiling.

“Brayen, huh?” he said to Ace. “You’d have to be crazy to even think of something like that.”

Ace shrugged. “Guess they’re rubbing off on me. Crazy is what works around here, after all.”

“Yeah.” Marco leaned back, looking up at the slowly darkening sky. “Crazy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Brayen is a totally made up island, just like Nelia. I don't think we know enough yet about the islands in Shinsekai for me to use one of those for this battle, so I hope you'll forgive me if I just kinda invent one. Thanks for reading, only a few more chapters left!


	24. In Which the Impossible is Attempted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Songbird Pirates clash with Whitebeard and his crew in an all out battle.

Brayen, an island located deep in Whitebeard’s territory, was neither well-known nor especially prosperous. Nothing of great importance had ever happened there, and most of the people living there were quite sure that nothing ever would.

The island itself was shaped roughly like a crescent moon, framing a deep circular bay. The two outward points of the crescent were just above sea level, but the ground gradually sloped up on either side of the island from those points. The highest point was easily four stories above the surface of the water, dropping away on either side in rocky cliffs.

“Wow,” Nami said, shading her eyes and looking out across the bay. “What a beautiful view.”

“Ace was right,” Luffy said gleefully. “This place is perfect! Right, Robin?”

Robin nodded. “Yes, I think this will do very nicely.”

There were buildings on either side of the island, but they became fewer as the slope of the land became steeper. At the island’s highest point, which might be considered the bottom of the crescent, there was a large, flat area that was completely open. There weren’t any landmarks, save for a few large rocks scattered around.

“This is good,” Sanji said, scuffing at the dusty ground. “Hey, you guys know that if we win this, we are gonna be legendary.”

Franky laughed. “Not exactly why I originally signed on, but hell. It has a nice ring to it.”

“Let’s not congratulate ourselves before we actually win,” Nami chided. “Bad luck.”

“I agree. There will be plenty of time for talking once we’re done here. For now, let’s get to work!”

 

“Hey, Pops, we’re back,” Ace announced as he and Marco strode across the deck of the Moby Dick towards their captain.

“Oh, welcome back,” Whitebeard said. “What have you boys been up to?”

Ace and Marco shared a glance. “We went to track down a lead, Pops,” Marco said carefully. They had agreed beforehand that he should be the one to do most of the talking. “We heard a rumor that Blackbeard was hiding out somewhere in our territory.”

“What!” Whitebeard roared. Beside Marco, Ace flinched almost imperceptibly. All talk and activity on the deck immediately stopped as Whitebeard raised himself up to his full, towering height.

“That rat,” he spat, clenching his fists. “If he thinks he can get away with a stunt like this, after he comes here and attacks my crew, he’s got another thing coming.”

“Sir, please, try to calm down,” one of the nearby nurses called meekly.

Whitebeard ignored her, instead rounding on Ace and Marco again. “Well? Did you find out where he is?”

“Brayden,” Ace said quickly, “he’s on Brayden.”

“Set a course there immediately,” Whitebeard bellowed. “Call all the others, and have any that are available meet us there as soon as possible. You boys did good,” he added to his two adopted sons. “Don’t worry, we’re not about to let that son of a bitch go unpunished.”

“That was a lot easier than I expected,” Ace murmured.

“Yeah,” Marco murmured back. “He’s really itching for a fight. This is worse than we thought.”

“What will we do if Robin and the others can’t pull it off?”

“I don’t think there’s much we can do.”

Ace bit his lip nervously. “If they get hurt, it’ll be our fault, you know.”

“I know.” Marco sighed. “It’s out of our hands now, Ace. We just have to trust them.

 

The sudden appearance of the Whitebeard Pirates on Brayden utterly shocked the locals. They were terrified that they had unknowingly done something wrong, and with good reason. Whitebeard’s presence was so imposing that it could practically be felt. It was like thunder.

He walked brazenly through the streets, his enormous polearm in hand, leading what was basically a small army of pirates behind him. Even though his body was scarred and his face lined with age, it was immediately obvious to anyone who looked at him why he was sometimes called the world’s strongest man.

“He’s coming,” Usopp informed his crew over an open den den mushi line. “He doesn’t look happy….and there are a lot of people with him…”

“Hold position, Usopp,” Robin murmured. “We’ll be fine if we stick to the plan.”

Whitebeard crested the hill and stopped, surveying the flat expanse before him. For a moment there was a silence so heavy that the Songbirds hardly dared to breathe.

“There’s no one here,” Whitebeard said angrily.

Robin heaved a tremendous sigh of relief. Going in, there had been no way of knowing whether Whitebeard, as a master of haki, would be able to sense their presences at this distance. Thankfully, it seemed he could not.

She stood up. It was time to put their plan into action. 

“On the contrary,” she said loudly, stepping out from behind the rock she’d been concealed behind. “You are here. Exactly as we planned.”

Whitebeard’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you? Are you with that scumbag, Blackbeard?”

“My name is Nico Robin. Historian, last survivor of Ohara, and Captain of the Songbird Pirates.” She took a few steps forward, so as to discourage Whitebeard from coming any closer. “Edward Teach is not here. We fed that information to your men, hoping to lure you out.” She spread her arms, smiling. “And here you are.”

“So it was all a setup,” Whitebeard snarled. “Very clever. But if you really were that smart, surely you’d have realized you can’t defeat us all by yourself.”

“Oh, I am not alone,” Robin said, hoping she sounded confident. On cue, her crew began emerging from their own hiding spots, weapons already drawn.

“Get them!” Whitebeard shouted. His men readied their own weapons and charged into the space that separated the two pirate crews, yelling loudly.

“Now, Usopp!” Robin called over her shoulder.

Behind her, Usopp pressed the button that activated the first wave of traps. Beneath the oncoming pirates’ feet, fine lines of tripwire suddenly sprang taught. Those at the front of the charge stumbled; some of them fell, and some of the men behind them tripped over them and fell too. 

But for every man that fell, it seemed like there was three more to take his place. They kept coming, and those with long-range weapons or powers started taking shots.

“Remember the plan, and keep communications on,” Robin ordered. “Split up on my mark...now!”

The Songbird’s battle strategy was twofold. It called for one team to remain behind, to activate the remaining traps and to fight off anyone who made it across the field, while the other team rushed headlong into the fray.

Franky, Nami, Chopper, and Usopp were the ones assigned to stay behind. It was one of the most unconventional battles any of them had ever fought in. They were always in motion, constantly evaluating and reevaluating the situation around them, yelling to each other over the din, watching each other’s backs. They tried their hardest not to severely hurt any of their opponents, which was made more difficult by the fact that Whitebeard’s men came at them with intent to kill.

Chopper’s hooves clattered back and forth on the ground. Nami’s halberd flashed in the sun. Usopp’s slingshot released and reloaded over and over again. Franky stood nearby, occasionally firing a powerful blast from a huge handheld canon.

The rest of the crew dashed ahead, meeting Whitebeard’s forces’ charge head on. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji took the lead, Robin and Brook following them closely.

In the middle of that fight, running as hard as she could, constantly glancing over her shoulder, Robin felt a strong surge of pride. It was amazing, truly amazing, what her crew could accomplish when they put their minds to it. Especially the three young men in front of her, working together as flawlessly as if they’d been known each other all their lives. And it had been she who’d brought them all together, just mere months ago.

But the moment didn’t last very long. There were simply too many opponents for five people to fight through effectively. Even Luffy’s extended limbs couldn’t reach them all.

Their progress slowed, and finally stopped. “Franky,” Robin called into her den den mushi, “can you-ugh-help us out over here?”

“Sure thing, Captain. Watch yourselves!”

“Incoming!” Robin shouted. They all ducked, bracing themselves as a blast from Franky’s giant gun landed off to their left. While the nearby enemies were distracted, they managed to break through and start running again.

They were getting closer. Robin could see Whitebeard clearly now, through the mass of bodies and flying bullets. He didn’t look as confident as he had before. She could tell that they’d already made it further than he’d expected.

Suddenly Sanji backpedaled, throwing out his arms and yelling, “watch out, watch out!”

They stopped short just in time to avoid a burst of flame that erupted right in front of them.

“Oh damn,” Robin muttered under her breath. 

Whitebeard’s division captains, the strongest and highest-ranking members of his crew, were lined up in front of them. Marco and Ace were among them, wearing grimly serious expressions. The Songbirds’ path was completely blocked.

“Fuck!” Zoro said loudly around the sword in his mouth.

“Captain?” Brook asked uneasily. “What should we do?”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” Robin took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. “Ok...I think I have something. But I need you all to trust me here.”

“Of course we trust you!” Luffy said. “Tell us what you need us to do. But you’d better make it fast!”

“Ok.” Robin repeated, taking another deep breath. “Just get me an opening. Leave Whitebeard to me.”

Sanji looked ready to protest, but the division captains took another step towards them and he thought better of it. “Argh, fine! But you’d better come back safely, Captain.”

“Count on it,” Robin said, flashing a quick smile. “Get ready, here we go: three, two, one, now!”

At her word, Zoro and Brook both sprang forward, lashing out with their swords. Two of Whitebeard’s men were forced to move apart for just a moment, and in that split second, Robin slipped through.

One of the division captains reached out a hand as if to try and grab her, but Sanji ducked in front of him, forcing him to return his attention to the threat at hand.

Robin, her path now completely uninhibited, sprinted across the final few yards towards Whitebeard.

For a moment, he didn’t seem to register the fact that she had broken through every layer of his defenses. But then it hit him, and he let out a furious yell.

He raised his polearm, making ready to swing, but Robin was faster. She waved her hand and suddenly there were extra arms and hands all over Whitebeard’s body, pinching, punching, and clawing at every exposed bit of skin.

No major damage was done, but the attack caught Whitebeard completely by surprise. His grip on the handle of his weapon loosened just enough that Robin’s extra hands could pry it from his grasp and throw it to the ground. It fell, and with another wave of her hand, several feet appeared and kicked it out of reach.

Whitebeard’s expression was truly livid now. He reached out his arms. With an ominously loud crack, the very air around his fingers seemed to shatter into pieces.

“Quake incoming,” Robin shouted breathlessly in the general direction of her den den mushi.

Beneath her feet, she created a multitude of arms that lifted her up, holding her off the ground. When Whitebeard reached down, slamming the seismic tremors he’d formed in the air into the ground, the arms kept Robin from falling, although she did sway violently. 

Afterwards, she would have no real recollection of how long the battle actually was. It all sort of blurred into one continuous stream that simultaneously seemed to have lasted forever and no time at all.

She kept pushing forward, relentlessly, getting as close as she could and forcing Whitebeard to back away. She pushed and pushed, gasping for breath, her hair flying wildly in all directions.

She saw and opening as Whitebeard reared back, preparing to unleash a particularly powerful quake, and she took it. From the ground she raised dozens of arms, stacked on top of each other and woven together, and with all her might she gave one final push.

Thrown off balance by her attack, Whitebeard slipped. He stumbled back, and this time there was no more ground to support him. He fell, over the edge of the cliff and out of sight.

The reaction from those of Whitebeard’s crew still standing was instantaneous. They cried out as one, a cry full of pain and anger. All of them immediately changed direction, running towards the lone woman they had just witnessed push their captain off a cliff.

Robin turned to face them and raised a hand. “Stop right there,” she shouted. She tried to sound intimidating, even though her legs were trembling and she felt incredibly weak. 

Miraculously, Whitebeard’s men did stop. Although, it seemed less that they were intimidated by her and more that they were waiting for their division captains to tell them what they should do. Robin didn’t mind.

“Your captain and most of your troops have already been defeated,” she called out while they were stopped. “You can continue your attack, in which case my crew will defeat the rest of you, or you can surrender to us now, in which case none of you shall be harmed.”

Waves of whispers swept through the remaining Whitebeard Pirates. Some of them clearly wished to fight on, but some looked uneasy.

“I surrender.” Ace’s voice rang out across the empty plain.

“What are you saying?” whispered one of the other captains urgently in his ear. “We can still-”

“I surrender, too,” Marco called, raising his hands.

Ace was still young and relatively inexperienced, but Marco had been a member of Whitebeard’s crew for over twenty years. His decision seemed to hold some sway with the other captains, and slowly but surely, they all lowered their weapons. 

“A wise choice, gentlemen,” Robin said. “As of now, the Songbird Pirates have officially defeated Whitebeard of the Four Emperors.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a real hard time writing this chapter! I hope it makes sense ;_; 
> 
> There will be one more actual chapter, and then an epilogue. Thanks for sticking with me!


	25. In Which Nothing is Impossible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Songbirds wrap up their dealings with the Whitebeard Pirates, and they move on

Robin was there when Whitebeard woke up. She saw his face shift rapidly from an expression of pain to one of anger, and finally to one of confusion.

“Where am I?” he muttered groggily, trying to sit up and not totally succeeding.

“Pops!” Ace exclaimed, jumping out of his chair. “You’re ok!”

Chopper attempted to push Whitebeard back down onto the bed he was laying on. “Please, try not to move too much. You hit your head pretty hard when you landed. You might have a concussion.”

“I don’t have a concussion,” Whitebeard snapped, slapping at Chopper’s outstretched arm. “What the hell happened?”

“It’s as you said before,” Robin said, smiling wryly. “This was all a setup.”

Whitebeard’s head whipped around. “You!” he spat, and would have moved to attack her had Ace and Marco not intervened.

“Pops, calm down,” Ace urged, waving his hands. “Let us explain, please.”

“We asked her to come,” Marco added quickly. “We asked her to do this.”

Whitebeard paused, turning his angry glare on them. “You two explain yourselves. Now.”

“We, um...that is…” Ace sputtered, faltering under his captain’s stare.

“Allow me, Ace.” Robin stepped closer. “As far as the world is concerned,” she said, addressing Whitebeard, “you are now dead. I killed you myself. There’s a whole island full of witnesses, in fact.”

“I still don’t get it. Why on earth would you want to put on a big show of killing me, but then leave me alive?”

“You’re not thinking about the big picture. Everyone thinks you’re dead. Everyone. Even, say, Blackbeard and his crew. The World Government. The other Pirate Emperors. Need I go on?”

Whitebeard’s eyes widened as understanding slowly dawned on him. “You faked my death...because of the war?” He looked back at his sons. “That’s why you did all this?!”

Marco shrugged. “Ace suggested it, actually.”

“We didn’t want you to have to fight anymore,” Ace said quietly. “It was hard on all of us, but it was hardest on you. We could all see it.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me about this?”

“No, we were going to-”

“Robin said we couldn’t-”

“That was my doing, I’m afraid,” Robin cut them off. “We wanted to make it convincing.”

Whitebeard huffed irritatedly. “If you had told me beforehand, I would have told you that I have no intention of playing dead.”

“That’s too bad,” Robin told him, crossing her arms. “Because the way I see it, you don’t have much of a choice in the matter. You see, we defeated you. Your crew surrendered to mine unconditionally, which means you have to do what we say, does it not?”

Whitebeard made an angry noise somewhere in the back of his throat. Robin smiled again. “Your men care very deeply about you,” she said. “You would do well to listen to them and sit the rest of this war out.”

“...Fine.” Whitebeard muttered. He reached up and tore off the bandages around his head, ignoring Chopper’s squawk of protest. “I’ll play along. What will happen to our territory? Would you have us sit by and let Blackbeard or some other take it all?”

“I’ll leave it up to you. But if you want my advice, make it look like the division captains have taken control of the crew and the territory after your death, and have them publicly declare that they are withdrawing from the conflict. It won’t even be the first time it’s happened in this war.”

Whitebeard looked a little less angry now, and more thoughtful. “You said you’re a historian. Do you have any idea when this war will be over?”

Robin shrugged. “Not a clue. It’s rather...unconventional. But you have my word that my crew and I will do whatever we can to end it as soon as possible.”

With that she turned and walked towards the door, gesturing for Chopper to follow her. “Well, it’s about time for us to be going. Ace, Marco, feel free to call again if you ever need our help.”

“Thank you,” Marco called after her. “We owe you, Nico Robin.”

“Tell Luffy I’ll be in touch,” Ace added, waving.

“Of course. Take care, all,” Robin said, closing the door behind her.

They started making their way across the deck of the Moby Dick, towards the gangplank that led down to where the Starscape was waiting for them. Many of Whitebeard’s crew were there; they stared as Robin and Chopper walked past.

“Do you think they’ll really do as you said?” Chopper asked, glancing uneasily around.

“Frankly, I don’t care whether they do or not,” Robin said. “We beat them once, and we could do it again. They know that now, so I doubt they’ll get out of line.”

The crossed the gangplank and stepped onto the deck of their own ship, where their crewmates were waiting for them.

“How’s the ship?” Robin asked.

“She’s holding up pretty well,” Franky said, “considering what we’ve put her through.”

“Good, good. In that case, I think it’s time for us to set sail once again, Miss Navigator.”

“On it,” Nami said, heading for the wheel. The others also hastened to their positions. Within a few minutes, they had pulled away from the Moby Dick and were making their way towards the open ocean.

“What do you want us to do with this, Captain?” Usopp asked, gesturing at the huge, tangled pile of netting on the deck.

“Hm.” Robin thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I suppose we may as well keep it. We might need it again some day.”

Usopp frowned. “You planning on throwing another Pirate Emperor off a cliff any time soon?”

“Not at the moment. But it worked so well this time, so who knows?” she laughed at the exasperated look on Usopp’s face. “I’m kidding. I would appreciate it if you would stow that belowdecks, though.”

“Sure. Luffy, mind giving me a hand with this? It’s heavier than it looks.”

“Yeah, coming!”

As Usopp and Luffy started dragging away the net, Robin sat down, bracing her back against the starboard railing.

“Captain, are you feeling ok?” Chopper asked anxiously.

“Just tired, Chopper. I’d be lying if I said that today didn’t take a lot out of me.” She sighed, leaning her head back. “You checked everyone out, yes?”

“Yeah, I did. It was mostly just cuts and bruises. Some of Whitebeard’s men had some broken bones, but none of them was seriously hurt. Not even Whitebeard himself. He must be really tough, if he fell all that way and didn’t get hurt.”

“Good, I’m glad. What about on our side?”

“Sanji got burned on the leg, and Zoro got shot in the shoulder, but neither of those is life-threatening.”

“Fantastic. Better than I dared hope for, even.”

“Where to next, Captain?” Nami called.

“Anywhere, Nami. I think we all need a little time to recover before we make any more serious plans.”

“You’re damn right we do,” Zoro said. He was laying sprawled out in the middle of the deck.

Sanji shook his head. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just upset that one of the division captains managed to get a shot at him.”

“Shut up,” Zoro snapped at him, effectively proving Sanji’s point. “They got lucky, that’s all.”

“Don’t be upset, Zoro,” Robin said soothingly. “You did a fantastic job today. You all did, really.”

“Well, you’re the one who fought Whitebeard one on one,” Brook said.

“Yeah, that was amazing,” Nami said. “Still can’t believe it. Guess that’s why you’re the captain, hah.”

Robin smiled. “Thank you. But truthfully, I couldn’t have done it without any of you. I’m proud to call you my crewmates.”

“Alright, enough of this sappy talk,” Zoro said, banging one of his fists on the deck. “I need a drink. Marine, I know you have some alcohol stocks hidden somewhere.”

“If you drink now, you’ll feel like shit tomorrow.”

“Don’t care. I need a drink!” He banged his fist on the deck some more.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Want some, Captain?”

Robin giggled. “You know, I think I will have a drink, Sanji. No sense being a pirate if you can’t celebrate your victories, after all.”

 

The Songbird Pirates became the talk of the Grand Line practically overnight. Rumors and whispers spread like wildfire from island to island, most of them wildly inaccurate.

Many people were scared. If the Songbirds, heretofore a relatively unknown crew, were powerful enough to defeat one of the Four Emperors, what was to stop them from doing so again? What if they aimed to overthrow the government, and cause chaos in the Line?

But there were also people, an ever-growing number, that hailed the Songbirds as heroes. People that recognized the good they were doing, and were thankful for it. Even if it was good done outside the boundaries of the law.

The vast majority of the Marines, of course, did not fall into the latter group.

 

“Read it out loud, Nami, read it out loud,” Usopp urged.

“Ok, ok, don’t rush me.” Nami straightened the newspaper in front of her, clearing her throat. “Whitebeard Pirates Defeated in Combat, Withdraw from War,” she read in a pompous voice. “What a headline! Here’s the article: 

“In an all-out battle waged yesterday on the island of Brayden, Edward Newgate, aka Whitebeard of the Four Emperors, was reputedly killed by Nico Robin, captain of the Songbird Pirates. Numerous eyewitnesses confirm that they saw the exchange take place. The remainder of the Whitebeard Pirates have recently confirmed that they will cease all participation in the Pirate War. The reason for the battle remains unknown.

“Looks like the rest of it is just about us,” she said, flipping a page. “Boy, they really don’t know much about us at all. They’re trying to convince the world that we’re dangerous and need to be caught. Oh, and they’ve raised our bounties again.”

“Nice,” Luffy said, grinning. “We did it, guys!”

“I just had a thought.” Sanji frowned. “If they really feel that strongly about this, they might send CP9 after us.”

Robin chuckled. “My, that certainly would be a challenge.”

“Captain, I’m sure you know how strong they are! You’re not worried about them at all?”

“Not really, Sanji. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, we’ll just have to get a little more creative with our disguises, that’s all.”

“Ooh, I know,” Usopp said. “There’s a shop on an island not that far from here; the circus used to get all our costumes done there. The old lady who runs the place told us she sometimes works for pirates. I bet she’d be able to help us.”

Robin nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a great suggestion, Usopp. I’d love to get some professionally done. We’re due to stock up on supplies soon anyway.”

“Is it cool if I pick up some parts while we’re there, too?” Franky asked. “I want to see if I can give the ship some upgrades.”

“Sure. You have the course heading, Nami? Good. Then let’s get going, everyone. We’ve celebrated enough for now. Time to get back to work.”

“Yes, Captain!”

The Starscape sailed across the sun-warmed waters of the Grand Line. Her crew had enemies at every turn, but they weren’t afraid. They knew that they’d be fine, as long as they had a plan.

 

Nico Robin was a historian. And she knew that, historically speaking, it was extremely rare for one small group of people to have any kind of lasting impact. She knew that those who tried to change the world were more often remembered for their deaths than for their lives.

But she was also a pirate. And pirates believe that nothing is impossible, if you work hard enough. If you are strong, and if you have comrades you can depend upon.

Nico Robin was through studying history. She was going to be someone who made history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \-->Click that 'next chapter' button to read the epilogue! -->


	26. Epilogue: In Which Letters are Sent and Received

To: Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp

From: Monkey D. Luffy

Hi Gramps!

Long time, no see. I hope you’re doing ok. I hear that fighting a war is really tiring. You’re pretty old, so make sure you don’t overwork yourself.

Have you heard about the new crew I’m traveling with right now? We’re called the Songbird Pirates. Maybe you know my friend Sanji? He used to be a marine. He knows how to cook the most amazing food! Everyone is great, and I’m really happy to be with them. Our captain is really really smart, and she always knows how to win a fight.

A while ago she introduced me to my Dad. He says he’s doing good, and that he’s proud of me. Which is nice, even though we don’t know each other that well. I asked him why he hadn’t talked to you, and he said it was because you didn’t want to talk to him.

You should call him, Gramps. I think he does actually want to talk to you. You don’t have to be proud of him, or whatever, but you should still talk to him. That’s what families do!

Speaking of family, both Ace and Sabo told me to say hi to you for them. Oh, I don’t know if you even knew that Sabo was still alive! He is, and he’s doing well. He travels with my Dad, actually.

If you get the chance, say hi to everyone back home for me! Tell them I’ll be back someday. Maybe we can both meet up there, once the war is over and we don’t have to be enemies anymore. In the meantime, I guess you’ll just have to read about me and my crew in the newspapers! 

-Luffy

 

To: Nojiko

From: Nami

I really hope you don’t throw this away before reading it.

The truth is, I killed Arlong. It was an accident. I never meant to kill him, but once I did, I panicked. I skipped town as soon as I could, before his crew found out and came after me.

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left the village without saying anything. I should have explained the situation to you so long ago. Well, you’re smart, so you probably figured it out, but that doesn’t change the fact that I left without even saying goodbye. I’m so sorry, sis.

I don’t know whether or not you know about what’s been up with me for the past two years. It doesn’t really matter. The point is, I was in a dark place. I couldn’t have faced you back then. I hated myself, and I didn’t want to see you to hate me too.

But things have changed, now. I’m actually in another pirate crew now. There’s people here from all walks of life. At first we didn’t really get along, but we’ve been through a lot together and somewhere along the line I guess we came to some kind of agreement.

The point is, I feel like I have a place to belong again. It’s been a long time, and I’d almost forgotten what it’s like. I don’t hate myself so much anymore.

I know it’s taken me a long, long time to get to this point. I’m sorry. But I’m tired of missing you. I want to make it up to you. And Genzo, and everyone else. If you want to try to fix things between us, I’m ready.

-your little sister, Nami

 

To: Crocus

From: Brook

My dear Doctor Crocus,

I am not sure you remember me. It has been over fifty years, after all! When we met, I was one of the Rumble Pirates. We repaired our ship at your lighthouse, before entering the Grand Line. It was us who entrusted Laboon to your care.

I know what you must think of us. That we abandoned our quest, and didn’t keep our promise. I can assure you that that isn’t the case. We never meant for things to turn out that way. The unfortunate truth is that all of my fellows perished at sea. I am the only one left alive.

Recently, I joined another crew, under a different captain. Some of my younger comrades have informed me that you still live at the Twin Capes Lighthouse, and that Laboon is still with you.

Sir, I do not know how I can ever thank you enough for the service you have done me, and my deceased former crewmates. Please know that I still intend to come back one day, and sing to Laboon again. It won’t be anytime soon, but I hope you’ll still wait. Again, you have my endless thanks.

-Sincerely yours, Brook

 

To: Kureha

From: Tony Tony Chopper

Dear Dr. Kureha,

Life with the humans is so strange! Everywhere I look, I see something new. Some of them are not-so-good discoveries, but some of them are really cool. Like cotton candy!!!

You may already know this, but the pirates and the government are all having a war right now. War is one of the bad things about humans. It’s very scary, and we have to fight a lot. Sometimes it makes me wish I had never left home. But I’ll be ok, as long as I’m with my crew.

Everyone here is my friend. They don’t even look at me funny anymore, even when I change shape. Captain Robin says that the crew wouldn’t be the same without me, and that I’m helping her to help the people out there who can’t help themselves.

It’s a little complicated. But, the point is that we’re doing good work, and that hopefully we can help end the war soon. When that happens, I’ll be able to come back to Drum Island and tell you everything in person! I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as I am!

-Love, Chopper

 

To: Admiral Kuzan

From: Vinsmoke Sanji

Sir,

Last time we spoke, you gave me some advice, and I’ve thought very seriously about it. After much deliberation, I have decided that I won’t be returning to the marines. I don’t think any of the others intend to leave the crew after the war is over, and if that is the case, then I don’t intend to leave either.

I realize what I’m giving up here. And yes, I do have regrets. But I’m not willing to abandon this crew. I’ve learned so much since joining up with them. About the world, and about myself.

I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you properly for everything you’ve done for me; so, thank you, Admiral Aokiji. If you hadn’t found me and taken me in, there’s no telling where I would have ended up. I’m proud to have served under you for so long.

I read in the newspaper that the Germa 66 managed to give the marines the slip. I hope you’re able to catch them soon. The Vinsmokes are cruel, horrible excuses for human beings, and they deserve to be behind bars. I hope that, through my actions with the Songbirds, one day I will be able to bring some honor back to the name.

P.S: The captain asked me to convey her best wishes. She says she’s sorry to have taken a capable soldier from your command, but that she always expected it to turn out this way. Her words, not mine.

-Sanji

 

To: Iceberg

From: Franky

Hey, man.

Listen, I wanted to apologize for all that stuff I said last time we saw each other. I was a real jerk, and I’m sorry.

I guess I was just jealous. Yeah, you read that right: sometimes I do actually feel pretty jealous of you. I mean, you’re the freaking mayor, and you’ve got the Galley La Company, and everyone loves you. The only reason I never got kicked out of the city or arrested was because you convinced everyone that I was more of a nuisance than any kind of threat.

You don’t know what it’s like to be in that kind of position. It sucks. That’s probably the main reason why I jumped at the offer to become a pirate. It was a chance to get out of your shadow, and do something for myself for once.

I’m getting off track. What I originally wanted to tell you, was that I recently had the chance to see how one of my crewmates interacts with his brothers. Their situation is easily twice as messed up as ours, but somehow they still managed to remain really close. I don’t know if the relationship we have qualifies as brotherly, but I figured we could at least try to make up.

I know you said you’d feel better if I stayed at home, but I can’t do that right now, Ice. We’ve got a lot of work to do out there. But I’ll be back one day, that I can guarantee.

Oh, one more thing. I’ve officially disbanded the Franky Gang. If you were serious about needing workers, maybe you should reach out to them. They’re good people, mostly, and they deserve a chance, at least.

-keep in touch, Franky

 

To: Koshiro

From: Roronoa Zoro

Sensei,

I know it must be weird getting a letter from me now, of all times. But everyone else around here is writing to their families and whatnot, so I figured, what the hell. Hope you don’t mind too much.

I’ve actually been thinking about my days at the dojo a lot recently. We met this girl a while back, and she looked so much like Kuina. It caught me off guard. I guess, even after all this time, I’m still not really over what happened back then.

I’ve been through some real bad shit since I left. It was real tough going for a while. But I think things are really starting to look up. I joined a pirate crew a while ago, and I know that doesn’t exactly sound like I’ve turned my life around, but trust me. The captain is a real dedicated woman, and she’s given me an opportunity to use my swords to do some good for once.

Everything I’ve been through has made me stronger and stronger. But it’s still not enough. I’ve got a lot more training to do. I’m not giving up, though. I will become the world’s strongest swordsman, strong enough even to defeat Mihawk himself. And then I’ll go back to the dojo, and maybe you won’t be too ashamed to be seen with a pirate like me.

-Roronoa Zoro

 

To: Yasopp

From: Usopp

Dear Dad,

I’ve been staring at this blank piece of paper for fifteen minutes, trying to think of what to say. There just isn’t an easy way to tell someone that their son ran away to join the circus, and then became a pirate. Surprise, I guess.

I’ve been traveling with the Songbird Pirates for a few months now (maybe you’ve read about us in the newspapers?). One of my crewmates here is Monkey D. Luffy, who spent time in the Red Hair Pirates with you. He’s told me a lot about you, actually.

To be completely honest, I used to really resent you for leaving home to go pirating. Especially when Mom first got sick. But now that I’m out here myself, I think I understand why you did. You just kinda get caught up in it, don’t you?

There’s so much I’d like to say, but it just doesn’t feel right to do so by mail. After all, it’s been over a decade since we last talked. We hardly know each other. I’d really like to meet up with you one day, maybe once the war is over.

I may not know you very well, but I’m proud to have a father that Red Hair Shanks himself sought out to join his crew. I think Mom would be proud of you too.

-Stay safe, Usopp

 

To: Monkey D. Dragon

From: Nico Robin

Dragon,

I hope this letter finds you well. I know the war has been keeping you busy, and I assure you that we are doing all we can about that. I admit that I can make no estimate as to how long it will actually last, but I hope this will all be over soon.

Truth be told, I’ve undergone a fairly substantial change in perspective recently. Being a pirate captain certainly isn’t easy, but it has opened my eyes to so much. I hope it isn’t too presumptuous of me to assume that I now have a better understanding of your position, and the difficult choices that you are faced with every day.

That being said, there’s still one decision of yours that I have never truly understood. You chose to shelter a young woman who, when she first crossed your path, was covered in mud and being pursued by an entire squadron of marines. I don’t know what you saw in me then, and perhaps I never will.

All I do know is that I owe you a debt I may never be able to fully repay. It is thanks to you that I am alive today, and that I can continue helping the innocent people of the Grand Line. My crew and I won’t be returning to Nelia anytime soon, but we will always be but a call away, if you need us.

Please, give my regards to the others. In return, allow me to convey greetings from Luffy; he asked me to tell you that he’s doing well, and that he hopes you’ll stay safe throughout the remainder of this conflict.

Those of us who traverse the grey areas of morality are never certain where we will end up. I sincerely hope that this war never makes enemies of us, Dragon.

-all the best, Captain Nico Robin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first started writing this, I had no idea that it would go on this long. I had no idea that there would be people interested in my work, either! Thank you guys so, so much for reading through 26 whole chapters of my rambles. I'm relatively new to writing, so this was really all just a grand experiment for me personally. Feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated, of course. Again, thank you so much, dear readers! This fic never could have happened without you!


End file.
